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 ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

since October 1960.

Early life and education

Benites was born Leopoldo Benites Vinueza in

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

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 old ...

, 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 Universidad de Montevideo (in English: ''University of Montevideo'') is a private (catholic, Opus Dei) university located in Montevideo, Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Ur ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del 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 ...

. 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 Bejarano Pizarro y Torres de Altamirano (; 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 Amaz ...

.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 , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

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 mestizo origin in colonial Ecuador. Although he was a notable scientist and write ...

and

, the Spanish

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

who travelled the length of the

River Amazon The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the List of rivers by discharge, largest river by Discharge (hydrology), discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed List of river systems by length, ...

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 ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

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

OPANAL The OPANAL (which stands for el 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 Eng ...

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

nuclear disarmament Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the Atomic nucleus, nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear ...

. 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 island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

and both

East East or Orient 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 fa ...

and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

which had been initiated by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. 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, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. 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