Víctor Andrés Belaúnde

Víctor Andrés Belaúnde

Víctor Andrés Belaúnde Diez Canseco (1883–1966) was a Peruvian diplomat who chaired the Fourteenth session and the fourth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly (1959–1960).

Victor Andrés Belaúnde was born in Arequipa, Peru. After receiving his early education there at the "Escuela San Vicente and San José," (Colegio San José) he decided to study law at the Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, and later transferred to finish his studies at the National University of San Marcos in Lima. In addition to receiving his law degree, he also obtained his doctorate in Political Sciences and Administration and in Literature in 1911.

Among the positions Víctor Andrés Belaúnde occupied throughout his professional career were the following: Secretary of the File of Limits of the Ministry of External Relations of Peru, becoming Secretary in the Diplomatic Mission to Spain and Argentina, Consultant in the bordering negotiations with Brazil, Chargé d'affaires in Germany (1914) and Bolivia (1945), Plenipotentiary Secretary in Uruguay in 1919, Colombia in 1934 and in Switzerland in 1936, President of the Peruvian delegation before the Society of Nations (1945), where he had the opportunity of subscribing the San Francisco Letter, which gave origin to the Organization of the United Nations, President of the General Assembly of the United Nations (1959), Rector pro tempore (1946–1947) and finally Rector of the Catholic University of Peru (1965).

He also lectured on Hispanic-American culture throughout various Universities in the United States while in exile, such as Columbia University, University of Miami (Doctor honoris causa), and the University of Chicago. In 1930 he delivered the Albert Shaw Lectures on Diplomatic History at Johns Hopkins University. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1944.

Selected Writings

• “The Alienation of the Latin-American Mind From Christianity,” Biblical Review, Vol. 8 (1923): 578–586.
• Bolivar and the Political Thought of the Spanish American Revolution (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press: 1938).

See also

• Arequipa, Peru

External links

• United Nation's complete biography of Víctor Andrés Belaúnde
• (Spanish) Catholic University of Peru's presentation of Víctor Andrés Belaúnde

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Charles Habib Malik	President of the United Nations General Assembly 1959–1960	Succeeded by Frederick Henry Boland

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Manuel Cisneros	Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1958	Succeeded by Raúl Porras Barrenechea