Donald Trump has chosen Benjamin León Jr. as his ambassador to Spain. León, an 80-year-old Cuban-American businessman, has been announced as the pick for this position by the president-elect through his social network, Truth. León is a donor to the Republican Party and a passionate horse racing enthusiast. He will serve as the ambassador to Madrid at a time when the European Union is watching with concern the return of Trump to the White House, given the threat of imposing tariffs and the potential shift in U.S. foreign policy towards Ukraine and NATO, factors that could affect the transatlantic relationship. The U.S. ambassador’s position in Spain has been vacant since Julissa Reynoso left in July to return to the law firm Winston & Strawn as a partner focusing on transnational issues. León’s appointment is subject to Senate confirmation, but the Trump-nominated candidate should have no problem getting the green light.
The government of Pedro Sánchez has had a smooth relationship with the Biden Administration. The Spanish Prime Minister visited the White House in May 2023. Joe Biden had been to La Moncloa earlier, in June 2022, for the NATO summit held in Madrid. Tariffs on olives imposed by Trump, but largely maintained by Biden, and more recently, the threat of sanctions on Spain for banning the stopover of ships carrying weapons to Israel, have barely tarnished a friendly bilateral relationship that has allowed agreements on various issues. The debate over military spending by NATO member countries, a topic Trump emphasizes, and the possibility of new tariffs could become sources of friction in the new stage.
“Benjamin is a highly successful entrepreneur, a horse racing enthusiast, and a philanthropist. He came to the United States from communist Cuba at the age of 16 with only five dollars in his pocket and built his company, Leon Medical Centers, into an incredible business,” wrote Trump. León’s business story is a bit more complex than that. Born in Oriente, Cuba, in 1944, his family emigrated from the island in 1961 after the Cuban Revolution. Benjamin León Jr. arrived in Miami at the age of 16, followed by his parents and his brother that same year. He began washing dishes at the Shelborne Hotel, worked as a newspaper delivery boy for the Miami Herald, and also restocking shelves in grocery stores. In that time, there was a large influx of Cuban immigrants entering Miami. Many immigrants struggled to access healthcare due to language barriers and an overwhelmed healthcare system in the county. Benjamín León Sr, along with Moisés Liber and a group of doctors and professionals, founded the first prepaid medical center in Miami, Clínica Cubana, in 1964. Benjamín León Jr. joined the company as the first director of member services. Later, father and son founded the Cuban Association Clinic (CAC) in June 1970, which in 1973 received the first Florida Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) license.
Benjamín León Jr. founded Leon Medical Centers (LMC) in 1996, which provides services to Medicare beneficiaries, the public health insurance primarily targeted at seniors, and later, Leon Medical Centers Health Plans. The company is currently run by his son, Benjamin León III. The group employs 2,300 professionals and provides care to over 44,000 Medicare beneficiaries, mainly in the Miami-Dade area. The family also has real estate investments. In parallel to his business career, the future ambassador to Spain has immersed himself in his great passion, horse racing. In the 1980s, he founded the Besilu stable, which excelled in breeding Paso Fino horses. In 2008, he bought his first Thoroughbred racehorse, started participating in horse races, and spending tens of millions of dollars at horse auctions. In 2011, he purchased the mare Royal Delta for $8.5 million, which won prestigious races and made León a regular feature in specialized publications. He began breeding Thoroughbreds at his stable. Alongside his businesses and horse racing, León has dedicated part of his wealth to philanthropy, supporting noble causes such as the League Against Cancer, important medical research at Johns Hopkins, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He supported the Benjamín León Jr. Nursing School at Miami-Dade College, and in 2008, donated $10 million to establish the Family Center for Geriatric Research and Education at Florida International University, to facilitate debate and study on Cuban issues at the university. This year, he donated $10 million to FIU CasaCuba, a Cuban cultural and academic center, to help build its new headquarters.
What Trump did not mention in his social media post is something that serves as a usual qualification for the position of U.S. ambassador- León is a donor to Republican Party candidates and, particularly, to his direct boss-to-be, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also of Cuban origin. Interestingly, he contributed $2.5 million in 2015 to the senator’s campaign, who at that time was a rival to Trump in the Republican presidential primaries.
