Xavier Olea Muñoz (December 1, 1923 – December 1, 2015) was a Mexican

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

, and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He briefly served as the

Governor of Guerrero List of governors of Guerrero since it became a Federated state, state of Mexico in 1917. References See also

* List of Mexican state governors {{DEFAULTSORT:Governor Of Guerrero Governors of Guerrero, * Lists of governors of State ...

from January 31, 1975, until April 1, 1975, after his predecessor, Governor

Israel Nogueda Otero Israel Nogueda Otero (January 16, 1935 – June 15, 2012) was a Mexican politician, economist and member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Nogueda served as the Municipal President of Acapulco municipality from 1969 to 1971 and th ...

, was removed from office. Olea Muñoz also served as the Ambassador of Mexico to several countries. In 1976, he was appointed Ambassador of Mexico to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He then served as Ambassador to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, as well as concurrent Ambassador to

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 ...

, from 1977 until 1979. Olea Muñoz was born in

Iguala Iguala (), known officially as Iguala de la Independencia, is a historic city located from the List of capitals in Mexico, state capital of Chilpancingo, in the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Mexican state of Guerrero in southwestern Mexico. ...

, Guerrero, Mexico, on December 1, 1923. He received a bachelor's from the School of Law at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

(UNAM) and completed law school four years later. Following

law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

, he became the personal representative of Adolfo López Mateos, who was elected

President of Mexico The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Co ...

in 1958. By 1960, Olea had become

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

of his home state of Guerrero, a position he held until January 4, 1961. In 1962, he became the President of the Alumni Society of the UNAM's School of Law. As President, he presented a certificate and gold medal to

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John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

. The Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística honored him with a merit award in 1965. In 1966, Olea Muñoz was appointed as an adviser to Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. In 1969, Olea Muñoz was elected Vice President of the International Union of Lawyers, a professional organization headquartered in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

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. He held a series of positions with Mexico's

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and federal government, including the Mexican Cultural Institute and the

Secretariat of Tourism The Mexican Secretary of Tourism ( es, Secretaría de Turismo, ''SECTUR'') is the government department in charge of the nation's tourism promotion and development. The Secretary is appointed by the President of the Republic and is a member of th ...

. In January 1975, the federal

Congress of the Union The Congress of the Union ( es, Congreso de la Unión, ), formally known as the General Congress of the United Mexican States (''Congreso General de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos''), is the legislature of the federal government of Mexico cons ...

removed Guerrero Governor

from office. Congress appointed Xavier Olea Muñoz as the interim

Governor of Guerrero List of governors of Guerrero since it became a Federated state, state of Mexico in 1917. References See also

* List of Mexican state governors {{DEFAULTSORT:Governor Of Guerrero Governors of Guerrero, * Lists of governors of State ...

. Olea Muñoz, who served two months as acting Governor, was sworn into office on January 31, 1975. He was succeeded by Rubén Figueroa Figueroa on April 1, 1975. Xavier Olea Muñoz began his diplomatic career shortly after leaving office as Governor of Guerrero. He was appointed as Mexico's Ambassador to

in 1976. He then served as Ambassador to Japan, with a concurrent

ambassadorship An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

to South Korea from 1977 until 1979. He also served as Mexico's Ambassador to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, the former

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

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, and the former

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during his career. He joined the

Party of the Democratic Revolution The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD, es, Partido de la Revolución Democrática, ) is a social democratic political party in Mexico. The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 1986 from the Institut ...

(PRD) during the 1990s. In 1998, Olea Muñoz was a PRD candidate for Governor of Guerrero, but lost his party's nomination to Félix Salgado Macedonio. Salgado was defeated in the 1999 Guerrero gubernatorial election by

René Juárez Cisneros René Juárez Cisneros (8 June 195626 July 2021) was a Mexican economist and politician affiliated with the PRI. Biography He served as Senator of the LXII Legislature of the Mexican Congress representing Guerrero. He served as Governor of Gu ...

of PRI. The city of

Taxco de Alarcón Taxco de Alarcón (; usually referred to as simply Taxco) is a small city and administrative center of Taxco de Alarcón Municipality located in the Mexican state of Guerrero. Taxco is located in the north-central part of the state, from the cit ...

, together with business leaders, politicians and the Catholic Church, honored Xavier Olea Muñoz with the key to the city in a ceremony on November 30, 2013. Xavier Olea Muñoz died in the city of

, Guerrero, on December 1, 2015, at the age of 92. His son, Xavier Olea Peláez, is also a criminal lawyer.

References