Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (1920–2020) was a Peruvian diplomat who served as the secretary-general of the United Nations 1982–91 and as prime minister of Peru (2000–01.)
Born in Lima, Peru, de Cuéllar attended the Catholic University in Lima and entered Peru’s foreign ministry in 1940 and the diplomatic service in 1944. After working in embassies in France, the United Kingdom, Bolivia, and Brazil, he returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1961–69 with a two-year term ambassador to Switzerland, 1964–66.
After working as Peru’s first ambassador to the Soviet Union (1969–71,) de Cuéllar was made Peru’s permanent representative to the U.N., a post that he held until becoming U.N. secretary-general in 1982. He scored successes in Cambodia and Afghanistan, brokered a historic ceasefire between Iran and Iraq in 1988, but he failed to stop the Falklands war in 1982.
In 1995 de Cuéllar ran unsuccessfully for the Peruvian presidency but later became prime minister 2000–01, helping to restore democracy in his country. His works include Manual de derecho diplomático (1964; “Manual of Diplomatic Law.”)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Javier Perez de Cuellar
I am like a doctor. I have written a prescription to help the patient. If the patient doesn’t want all the pills I’ve recommended, that’s up to him. But I must warn that next time I will have to come as a surgeon with a knife.
—Javier Perez de Cuellar
Topics: Nation, Nationality, Nationalism
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Dag Hammarskjold Swedish Statesman
Adlai Stevenson American Diplomat
George F. Kennan American Diplomat, Historian
George Marshall American Military Leader
John Foster Dulles American Politician
Henry Kissinger American Diplomat