Marcelo Ostria Trigo (born February 23, 1935), is a Bolivian attorney,

government official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

, diplomat, university professor, columnist and author.

Early life and education

Marcelo Ostria Trigo was born in

Tarija Tarija or San Bernardo de la Frontera de Tarixa is a city in southern Bolivia. Founded in 1574, Tarija is the largest city and capital and municipality within the Tarija Department, with an airport (Capitán Oriel Lea Plaza Airport, (TJA)) offe ...

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 ...

, as the third child of a Bolivian pediatrician, Eduardo Ostria Gutiérrez (1898–1961) and of Matilde Trigo Pizarro (1902–1997). He studied law at the Universidad Autónoma Juan Misael Saracho and graduated as an attorney in 1960.

Diplomacy

Domestic Service

He entered Bolivia's Foreign Service in 1966. Among his many positions, his most noteworthy domestic appointments included: Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1969), Under Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1974–1976), Minister of Foreign Affairs ''ad interim'' (1975), Under-Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1978), Adviser-General to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1993) and Foreign Policy Adviser to the

President of Bolivia The president of Bolivia ( es, Presidente de Bolivia), officially known as the president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia ( es, Presidente del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia), is head of state and head of government of Bolivia and the ca ...

(2005).

Under Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

During his appointment as Under Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he participated as part of the Bolivian Delegation in the Bolivia-Chile presidential meeting of

Charaña Charaña is a high elevation town in the altiplano of the La Paz Department in Bolivia. It is the seat of the Charaña Municipality, the fifth municipal section of the Pacajes Province. Charaña is east of the border with Chile. History Ch ...

in 1975. He played a key role in the meeting of Charaña, which led to a historic agreement between Bolivia and Chile that reestablished diplomatic relations between both countries that had been suspended since 1962, and resulted in the agreed upon design of a proposal to restore sovereign sea access to

landlocked A landlocked country is a country that does not have territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie on endorheic basins. There are currently 44 landlocked countries and 4 landlocked de facto states. Kazakhstan is the world's largest ...

Bolivia.

International Service

His international appointments began as Bolivia's Charge D'affaires in Hungary (1971–1973). He was later appointed as Ambassador of Bolivia to Uruguay (1976–1977), Venezuela (1978), and Israel (1990–1993). He was also appointed as Bolivia's

Permanent Representative A permanent representative is a diplomat who is the head of a country’s diplomatic mission to an international organisation. Organizations that receive permanent representatives from their member states include the United Nations, the World Tr ...

to 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) (1999–2002).

Permanent Representative to the OAS

During his ambassadorship as Bolivia's

to the OAS, he held the positions of Chair of the Permanent Council (2000) and Chair of the Committee of Hemispheric Security of the Permanent Council (2000–2001) in which he led meetings discussing proposals to new security approaches for the Western Hemisphere.

Presidency of the Republic of Bolivia

He served as the Secretary-General of

(1997–1999) of the Presidency of the

Republic of 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 ...

under former Bolivian President

Hugo Banzer Suarez Hugo Banzer Suárez (; 10 May 1926 – 5 May 2002) was a Bolivian politician and military officer who served as the 51st president of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from 1971 to 1978 in a military dictatorship; and then a ...

. He also served as the Foreign Policy Adviser (2005) to former ''ad interim'' President of Bolivia,

Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé (born 2 March 1956) is a Bolivian judge who briefly served as the 64th president of Bolivia from 2005 to 2006 on an interim basis following the resignation of President Carlos Mesa during the 2005 political crisis. P ...

University Professor

He has taught courses in International Public Law, Critical History of Bolivia and Integration Law at the Universidad Privada Boliviana in

La Paz, Bolivia La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the third-most populous city in Bol ...

. He has also taught Business Law courses at the Universidad Privada del Valle (Univalle) and at the Universidad Nuestra Señora de La Paz in La Paz. At the Universidad de Aquino (Udabol) in La Paz, he taught Introduction to Law and he also taught International Relations at the

Bolivian Air Force The Bolivian Air Force ( es, Fuerza Aérea Boliviana or 'FAB') is the air force of Bolivia and branch of the Bolivian Armed Forces. History By 1938 the Bolivian air force consisted of about 60 aircraft (Curtiss Hawk fighters, Curtiss T-32 Co ...

Academy.

Columnist

He is an active columnist for the newspapers El Deber of Santa Cruz (Bolivia), El País of Tarija, Bolivia, and La Patria of Oruro, Bolivia. He is also an active columnist for online newspapers and political magazines, such as y de Informe Uruguay of Uruguay, La Historia Paralela of Argentina and América Economía of Chile.

Author

He has published the books "Las negociaciones con Chile de 1975" (Editorial Atenea, 1986) and "Temas de la mediterraneidad" (Editorial Fundemos, 2004). These books cover themes associated with diplomatic negotiations between Bolivia and Chile regarding territorial and sea access disputes after Chile gained a significant amount of land from Peru and Bolivia during the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...

(1879–1883), making Bolivia a

landlocked country A landlocked country is a country that does not have territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie on endorheic basin, endorheic basins. There are currently 44 landlocked countries and 4 landlocked list of states with limited recogni ...

. He is also a writer and poet and has authored a poetry book called "Baladas mínimas" (Editorial El País, 2010).

Honours and awards

He has been honored with the Grand Cross of the

Order of the Condor of the Andes The Order of the Condor of the Andes ( es, links=no, La Orden del Cóndor de los Andes) is a state decoration of the Plurinational State of Bolivia instituted on 12 April 1925. The Order is awarded for exceptional merit, either civil or military, ...

, the highest state award for exceptional merit, either civil or military, shown by Bolivians or foreign nationals. He has also received comparable state honours from

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

as a recipient of the Grand Cross of the

Order of May The Order of May (in Spanish: ''Orden de Mayo'') is an order of merit and one of the highest decorations in Argentina. The order is named after the May Revolution which led to the birth of the Republic of Argentina. It was founded as the Order ...

and from Brazil as a recipient of the Commander

Order of the Southern Cross Emperor Pedro I of Brazil founded the National Order of the Southern Cross ( pt, Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul) as a Brazilian order of chivalry on 1 December 1822. The order aimed to commemorate the independence of Brazil (7 September 1822) ...

and the Grand Cross of the Order Barão of Rio Branco. In 1997, he was appointed as an honorary member Judge of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ostria Trigo, Marcelo Bolivian columnists Living people 1935 births Nationalist Democratic Action politicians Ambassadors of Bolivia to Venezuela Ambassadors of Bolivia to Uruguay Ambassadors of Bolivia to Israel Permanent Representatives of Bolivia to the Organization of American States