Jorge Valero Briceño (born 8 November 1946 in

Valera Valera is a city in Trujillo State in Venezuela, situated between the rivers Momboy and Motatán. The mayor is José Karkom, who has had that post since 2013. The city is home to Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Colombian and Spanish commun ...

, Trujillo) is a Venezuelan diplomat. He was a Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Early career

A graduate of the University of the Andes with a degree in history, Valero received his master's degree in Latin American studies from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He has also taught in undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of the Andes and the

Central University of Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela ( Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in ...

. He was the President of the

Latin American Parliament The Latin American Parliament (''Parlatino'') is a regional, permanent organization composed by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a consultative assembly similar to the early European Parliament. Currently the institution ...

's Social Debt Commission (''Comisión de la Deuda Social del Parlamento Latinoamericano''). As a longtime politician, Valero has authored numerous

opinion piece An opinion piece is an article, usually published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about a subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals. Editorials Opinion pieces may take the form of an editorial, ...

s, but as an academic, has also written several academic papers and books on history.

Political and diplomatic offices

Valero has previously served as a Deputy in the

Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies () was the lower house of Venezuela's legislative under its 1961 constitution; the Venezuelan Senate was the upper house. Under the 1999 constitution, the bicameral system was replaced by the unicameral National Assembly ...

. A backer of the

Rafael Caldera Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez ( (); 24 January 1916 – 24 December 2009), twice elected the president of Venezuela, served for two five-year terms (1969–1974 and 1994–1999), becoming the longest serving democratically elected lead ...

and

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

governments, Valero went on to serve several posts in the current government. He also appointed Ambassador to the

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...

during the Fourth Republic. In 1999, Valero was Venezuela's Representative on the Governing Board of the

OPEC Fund for International Development The OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund) is an intergovernmental development finance institution established in 1976 by the member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The OPEC Fund was conceived ...

(OFID), and in 2000 he was the President of the Presidential Preparatory Commission for the OPEC Summit hosted in Caracas that year. Valero currently serves as Deputy Foreign Minister for North America and Multilateral Affairs and also as the Permanent Representative for Venezuela to the Permanent Council of the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

(OAS). As a spokesmen for the Chávez government, Valero made headlines for antagonistic comments about the United States, for example by referring to the United States as an "

empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

," and accusing the United States of

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...

abuses and

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

for its embargo of Cuba. During the

2008 Andean diplomatic crisis The 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis was a diplomatic stand-off between the South American countries of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. It began with an incursion into Ecuadorian territory across the Putumayo River by the Colombian military on Marc ...

, he accused the government of Colombia of "

state terrorism State terrorism refers to acts of terrorism which a state conducts against another state or against its own citizens.Martin, 2006: p. 111. Definition There is neither an academic nor an international legal consensus regarding the proper de ...

" and "genocide" for its long armed conflict with the

FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian confl ...

rebels. Valero was a Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valero, Jorge 1946 births Living people Alumni of the University of London Members of the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies Ambassadors of Venezuela to South Korea Permanent Representatives of Venezuela to the United Nations Permanent Representatives of Venezuela to the Organization of American States People from Valera People of the Crisis in Venezuela Venezuelan diplomats