João Baena Soares

João Clemente Baena Soares (born May 14, 1931 in Belém , Pará ) is a former Brazilian diplomat who was Foreign Minister from 1979 to 1984 and Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) between 1984 and 1994 .

Life

Diplomatic career

After attending school in 1953, Baena Soares began studying at the Foreign Service Training Center (Instituto Rio Branco) and, after graduating in 1954, entered the diplomatic service and initially worked at the UN Secretariat in New York City . He then worked in the Secretariat of the Organization of American States OAS in Washington, DC in 1954 and in 1955 as Third Secretary at the Embassy in Paraguay . In 1957 he moved to the Embassy in Portugal as Third Secretary and then on June 9, 1960 as Second Secretary to the Embassy in Guatemala .

After his return to Brazil, Baena Soares was appointed acting head of the department for Africa in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1962 and there in 1963 a member of the cabinet of the Foreign Minister before he took over a professorship in Portuguese at the Instituto Rio Branco in 1963 . On August 28, 1964, he became head of cabinet in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the rank of first secretary, in 1966 consul in Florence and shortly thereafter also in 1966 first secretary at the embassy in Belgium .

In 1968 Baena Soares became First Secretary at the Permanent Mission to the UN and was promoted to Counselor on December 20, 1968 . In 1970 he returned to Brazil and was promoted deputy special advisor to President Emílio Garrastazu Médici and on March 31, 1972 as such to the second class ministerial advisor . In 1974 he took over the management of the Department for International Organizations in the Foreign Ministry and was promoted to Ministerial Counselor First Class on September 1, 1976.

In 1977, Baena Soares took on the role of Special Secretary in the Secretariat for International and Multilateral Political and Economic Affairs in the Cabinet of the Foreign Minister.

Foreign Minister and Secretary General of the OAS

On July 25, 1979, Baena Soares was appointed by President João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo to succeed Ramiro Saraiva Guerreiro as acting foreign minister and held this post with interruptions until he was replaced by Carlos Calero Rodrigues on June 6, 1984. As such, he was also head in 1979 the Brazilian Delegation of the Special Coordination Commission between Brazil and Chile and the IX. General Assembly of the OAS. In the following years he headed numerous other delegations at binational and multilateral meetings and conferences.

In 1984 he succeeded Alejandro Orfila as Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), after Val McComie had meanwhile been acting Secretary General. In 1989 he was re-elected as OAS General Secretary for a second five-year term. Baena Soares held this position for ten years until he was replaced by César Gaviria Trujillo in 1994 after a temporary provisional administration by Christopher R. Thomas .

In 1995 Baena Soares became President of the Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão and in 1997 an advisor and in 1998 President of the Commission for International Law of the United Nations. In 2001 he became lecturer and chancellor of the Universidade Estácio de Sá in Rio de Janeiro and in 2003 he became president of the educational committee of this educational institution.

honors and awards

Baena Soares has received several national and international medals. In domestic honors he received the Medalha Mérito Tamandaré in 1971 , the Grand Cross of the Ordem do Mérito do Judiciário in 1972 , the Medalha do Pacificador in 1977 , the Grand Cross of the Ordem de Rio Branco and the Medalha do Mérito Santos-Dumont , and in 1978 the Grand Cross of the Medalha do Mérito Mauá .

After his appointment as Foreign Minister, he received the Grand Cross of the Ordem do Mérito Naval in 1979 , the Grand Cross of the Ordem do Mérito Militar , the Grand Cross of the Ordem do Mérito Aeronáutico , and after his election as Secretary General of the OAS in 1984, the Ordem do Mérito Industrial and the title of Grand Officer Ordem do Mérito Grão-Pará , in 1988 the title of Grand Officer of the Ordem do Mérito das Forças Armadas , in 1991 the title of Grand Officer of the Ordem Nacional do Mérito

At foreign medals he received, among other things, the Knight's Cross of the Portuguese Order of Infante Dom Henrique in 1966 , in 1978 the command of the French Legion of Honor and the Grand Cross of the Portuguese Order Militar de Cristo , in 1979 the Grand Cross of the Order El Sol del Perú , and in 1983 the Grand Cross of the Spanish Order de Isabel la Católica , 1984 the Grand Cross of the Order Condor de los Andes of Bolivia , 1988 the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanches and Mella of the Dominican Republic , 1993 the Grand Cross of the Order José Dolores Estrada of Nicaragua , 1994 the Grand Cross of the National Order Juan Mora Fornández of Costa Rica , the Grand Cross of the Order del Libertador of Venezuela , the Grand Cross of the Order Francisco Morazán of El Salvador .

He also received honorary doctorates from the Université du Québec (1992), the Universidade Federal do Pará (1994), the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (1994)

Publications

• Síntese de uma gestão , Washington, DC 1994
• Cambio y Continuidad , discussions with João Baena Soares, Harry Belevan and Nelson Mello e Souza, Mexico City 1995
• Organismos Internacionais , Brasilía 1997
• Onde está o Secretarío-Geral , 1998
• Desenvolvimento progressivo do direito internacional e sua codificação na Comissão de Direito Internacional das Nações Unidas , Rio de Janeiro 1998
• Experiência da Secretário-Geral da OEA , Rio de Janeiro 2002
• Poder e Direito Internacional , Porto Alegre 2005

Web links

• Curriculum vitae on the OAS homepage
• Entry in rulers.org

Individual evidence

1. ^ Organization of American States (rulers.org)