The Cuban regime appointed Ivette Martínez Leyva as its new ambassador to Guatemala, replacing Nazario Fernández Biosca, who completed his diplomatic mission in the Central American country after more than seven years in the position.
The decision was approved by the Council of State of Cuba through , adopted on September 11, 2026, and published this Tuesday in the .
Martínez Leyva replaces Fernández Biosca, who has led the embassy since January 2019.
Martínez Leyva does not step into the position without prior experience: in October 2023, she was appointed Cuba's ambassador to Grenada under Agreement 71-X of that year, making her a diplomat with recent experience in the Caribbean.
The appointment comes at a time of tension in the bilateral relationship, marked by the departure of the Cuban medical brigade from Guatemala.
In January 2026, the Guatemalan Chancellor Carlos Ramiro Martínez Alvarado formally notified the Cuban Embassy that his government would not renew the agreement for medical brigades, which included more than 412 collaborators, among them 333 doctors.
The gradual withdrawal of Cuban doctors began in April 2026, when the first contingent of at least 93 members of the brigade departed.
That health cooperation had been strengthened just months earlier: in August 2024, then-ambassador Fernández Biosca and Guatemalan Minister of Health Joaquín Barnoya signed an agreement to extend the presence of Cuban doctors until 2027.
Despite that episode of friction, the Guatemalan government under President Bernardo Arévalo reaffirmed in June 2026 the priority of its relations with Cuba, opening a window for diplomatic reconciliation that includes the appointment of Martínez Leyva.
The Agreement 650-X is one of the four regulatory instruments published in the Official Gazette No. 79 Ordinary of 2026, all concerning diplomatic appointments: the appoints an ambassador in France; Agreement 647-X accredits an ambassador in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon; and the designates an ambassador in the United Arab Emirates.
Cuba and Guatemala have maintained diplomatic relations since April 30, 1902, and medical cooperation between the two countries dates back to 1998, when the first Cuban collaborators arrived after Hurricane Mitch.
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