Leopoldo Benites (17 October 1905 – 1 January 1996) was an Ecuadorian diplomat who served as the 28th

President of the United Nations General Assembly The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis. The president is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly. Election ...

in 1973. He had been the permanent representative of

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

since October 1960.

Early life and education

Benites was born Leopoldo Benites Vinueza in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

on 17 October 1905. His father was a physician. He attended the

University of Guayaquil The University of Guayaquil ( Spanish: ''Universidad de Guayaquil''), known colloquially as the ''Estatal'' (i.e., "the State niversity), is a public university in Guayaquil, Guayas Province, Ecuador. Estatal was founded in 1883. It is the ol ...

, where he earned a degree in social and political science.Leopoldo Benites (Ecuador)
un.org, accessed April 2010

Career

He was a diplomat who served as the Ecuadorean ambassador to a number of countries. Benites served as a Professor and earned an honorary doctorate from the

University of Montevideo The University of Montevideo (; UM) is a private (catholic, Opus Dei) university in Montevideo, Uruguay. It opened in 1986, and obtained the right to be legally named a university in 1997. It has been ranked as thnumber one University in Uruguayby ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. He worked as a journalist, a role in which he later said he was against dictatorship. In the 1930s he spent eight months in jail. Whilst in jail—an experience he described as "interesting"—he wrote a biography of

Francisco de Orellana Francisco de Orellana (; 1511 – November 1546) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. In one of the most improbably successful voyages in known history, Orellana managed to sail the length of the Amazon, arriving at the river's mouth on 24 A ...

.Ecuador Diplomat at Assembly Helm
The Milwaukee Journal, September 21, 1973, accessed April 2010 Benites was Ecuador's ambassador to Uruguay from 1947 to 1952. In 1954 he took on a similar role in

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

until 1956 when he spent a brief period as ambassador to Argentina. At the end of 1956 he took up the role of ambassador to Uruguay to August 1960. He then became the Permanent representative at the United Nations. Benites published short stories and poems as well as longer studies of the Ecuadoran hero

Eugenio Espejo Francisco Javier Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espejo (Royal Audiencia of Quito, February 21, 1747 – December 28, 1795) was a medical pioneer, writer and lawyer of criollo origin in colonial Ecuador. Although he was a notable scientist and writer, he ...

and

, the Spanish

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

who travelled the length of the River Amazon and founded Benites' home city. In 1965, Benites led the Ecuadorian delegation to a meeting for the Denuclearization of Latin America which was held in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. He continued to work for denuclearization and in 1971 he became the first official Secretary-General of

OPANAL The OPANAL (Organismo para la Proscripción de las Armas Nucleares en la América Latina y el Caribe) is an international organization which promotes a non-aggression pact and nuclear disarmament in much of the Americas. In English, its name is t ...

SECRETARY GENERALS
, OPANAL.org, accessed April 2010 an international organization that promotes

nuclear disarmament Nuclear disarmament is the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons. Its end state can also be a nuclear-weapons-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated. The term ''denuclearization'' is also used to describe the pro ...

. He only resigned this post when he was told that he was a strong candidate to be the United Nations' next Secretary General. An anecdote of Benites reports that an Asian UN delegate said to Benites that he liked his speech but did not like the vote that he cast. Benites said "The arguments are my own, but the vote was my government's instruction". He became the 28th President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1973. By this time he was a veteran at the UN, having been to eighteen general assemblies, at twelve of these he had been Ecuador's main delegate. In his maiden speech as President, following his appointment, he had the honour of admitting the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

and both

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

into the United Nations. The admission of the two halves of Germany was an important moment as the UN had been formed as a reaction to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

which had been initiated by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. This brought the total number of nations in the U.N. to 135 and at the time the prospective candidates were

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. Benites was one of 11 General Assembly presidents who were summoned back to the United Nations in 1985 to advise on how the UN could increase its impact.Historic meeting of Assembly presidents discusses ways to increase impact of United Nations
UN Chronicle, 05 Apr, 2010.

Personal life

When he was 20, Benites married Margot Sierra. He had two sons, Leopoldo and Robert. Benites died in 1996.

Works

*Socialist Thought, 2008 *Argonauts of the jungle, 1992 *Ecuador, drama and paradox, 1986 *Francisco Eugenio Espejo, a resident of the night, 1984Leopoldo Benites Vinueza
orlabs.org, accessed April 2010 *Poems in three stages, 1977 *The discoverers of the Amazon, 1976 *Ecuador, 1950Open Library
accessed May 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benites, Leopoldus Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly Ecuadorian diplomats People from Guayaquil 1905 births 1996 deaths Ambassadors of Ecuador to Uruguay Ambassadors of Ecuador to Bolivia Ambassadors of Ecuador to Argentina Permanent representatives of Ecuador to the United Nations University of Guayaquil alumni