BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) – Argentina’s new president will travel this week to Israel as his first official foreign visit.
Alberto Fernandez, who was sworn in as president last month, is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Tuesday to participate in the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, in Jerusalem. Argentina will be the only country from Latin America represented at such a high level at Thursday’s event.
Since 2002, Argentina is the only Latin American member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Argentina’s Jewish political umbrella DAIA called the president’s trip “very positive.”
The new governor of Buenos Aires province, Axel Kicillof, who is Jewish, will travel with the president.
In addition to the event in Jerusalem, Argentina’s ambassador to Belgium, Pablo Grispun, will represent the country at an IHRA event in Brussels, and Ambassador to Poland Ana María Ramírez will attend a tribute event in Oswiecim, Poland, near Auschwitz.
In Buenos Aires, the new foreign minister, Felipe Solá, will lead the national event for the International Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust at the San Martín Palace on Jan. 27.
