Luis Almagro

The Honorable Luis Almagro is the Secretary General for the Organization of American States. In this role, Almagro aims to ensure “more rights for more people” and to bring the Organization closer to the realities of the Hemisphere. Prior to his election, Dr. Almagro served in various diplomatic posts in addition to holding numerous positions in the Uruguayan government. He served as Uruguay’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2015, prior to which he was Uruguay’s Ambassador to the Republic of China. He also served as an advisor to then Minister José Mujica before being appointed Director of the International Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries in 2005. His diplomatic career began in 1998 when he was appointed Representative of Uruguay for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. During this time he also headed the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries in the United Nations and was Coordinator of the Group of 77 and China. Before that he was the National Coordinator for the Group of Temperate Southern Hemispheric Countries on the Environment (the Valdivia Group) from 1997 to 1998. Prior to that he served five years as Chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of Uruguay in Iran. Between 1989 and 1991 he presided over the International Cooperation Committee of the National Drug Board in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dr. Almagro holds a Law Degree from the Universidad de la República and has taken several courses in Diplomacy in the Artigas Foreign Service Institute.