The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) approved the admission of Nicaraguan writer and politician Sergio Ram\u00edrez Mercado to occupy Seat L, left vacant by Nobel Prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa, who died in April 2025.
\u201cTo come to occupy a seat at the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, and especially the seat that belonged to Mario Vargas Llosa, means an immense honor and an honor for my country. I know that thousands of Nicaraguans will celebrate this news together with me. This only reaffirms my Nicaraguan identity,\u201d Ram\u00edrez said in remarks to CONFIDENCIAL<\/strong>. The vote was approved during the closed-door plenary session held on Thursday, May 21, 2026, at the institution\u2019s headquarters, RAE sources told EFE.<\/p>\n\n Ram\u00edrez\u2019s candidacy, winner of the 2017 Cervantes Prize, was the only one submitted for the position and was endorsed, as required by the institution\u2019s statutes, by three members of the Academy: former RAE director V\u00edctor Garc\u00eda de la Concha; writer Luis Mateo D\u00edez, winner of the 2023 Cervantes Prize; and the current RAE director, Santiago Mu\u00f1oz Machado.<\/p>\n\n Ram\u00edrez\u2019s nomination was officially announced on May 7, 2026, and a week later his credentials were presented during an extraordinary plenary session held in Le\u00f3n. During the event, Mateo D\u00edez described him as a \u201cfundamental, generous, and committed\u201d writer who \u201clives in forced exile because of the dictatorial regime in his country.\u201d <\/p>\n\n