José Miguel Insulza

Insulza was Political Advisor to the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Chile until 1973.

After the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, Insulza was prohibited from entering Chile. Insulza lived in exile in Italy from 1974 to 1981 and in Mexico from 1981 to 1988, doing research and then working as the Director of the United States Studies Institute in the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE). He was a professor at Mexico's Universidad Nacional Autónoma, the Universidad Iberoamericana, and the Diplomatic Studies Institute. He has written numerous publications in his field.

Insulza was appointed Chilean Ambassador for International Cooperation in 1990. He became Director of Multilateral Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vice President of the International Cooperation Agency (AGCI). He was a member of the Chilean Association of Political Science, the Bar Association, and the Chilean Council of International Relations.

On March 11, 1994, Insulza became Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs. On September 20, 1994, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. On June 22, 1999 he was appointed Minister Secretary General of the Office of the President. On March 11, 2000, he took office as Minister of the Interior of Chile.

Insulza was elected Secretary General of the Organization of American States on May 2, 2005 following the withdrawal from the race of Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez. (See 2005 Organization of American States Secretary General election.)

On January 5, 2007, Insulza criticized Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez's decision not to renew television channel RCTV's broadcast license (Chávez had accused the station of being a coup d'état instigator.[2]) Three days later, Chávez responded to Insulza by calling for his resignation and referring to him as a pendejo—a Spanish profanity which is equivalent to "dumbass".[3] Insulza later received the support of several OAS members, including the US, and Chávez conceded he had gone too far with his words. In April 2008, Chávez congratulated Insulza for stating in a presentation before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere that there was no evidence linking Venezuela to terrorist groups.

Insulza openly stated his intention to run for President of Chile, but on January 5, 2009, he stepped out of the race and vowed to continue as OAS Secretary General until the end of his mandate. He gave his support to Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle as the Concertación candidate for president.

On March 24, 2010, Insulza—the sole candidate—was reelected (with the abstention of Bolivia) as OAS chief for another five-year term.[4]

Insulza won the Washington Office on Latin America's prestigious Human Rights Award[5] in 2008. In 2014 Insulza was awarded the prestigious Kalman H. Silvert Award presented by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.[6]

As Secretary General, Insulza was criticized for not taking enough action against human rights abuses in the Americas.[7] In 2008, the Human Rights Foundation started the "Inter-American Democratic Charter and Mr. Insulza" program, to inform Insulza every month of human rights abuses taking place in the Americas.[8]