Heraldo Muñoz

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Heraldo Muñoz Valenzuela (born July 22, 1948 in Santiago) is a prominent Chilean politician and diplomat; the current Ambassador to the United Nations for Chile and a former cabinet member.

Muñoz received a degree in international relations from the Universidad Católica de Chile. He has a doctorate in political science and International Studies from the University of Denver. He also studied at Harvard University and the State University of New York at Oswego. He later taught at the University of Chile's Institute of International Studies.

During the administration of Salvador Allende, Muñoz was made National Supervisor of the People's Stores, and served until the administration was cut short by the coup in Chile. He co-founded the Party for Democracy (PPD) and participated in the executive committee of the campaign to vote "no" on a second term for Augusto Pinochet during the 1988 plebescite. During the administration of Patricio Aylwin, Muñoz was made permanent representative for Chile to the Organization of American States, (1990-1994) and ambassador to Brazil (1994-1998) during the government of Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle. At the start of the administration of Ricardo Lagos, Muñoz was appointed Deputy of Foreign Relations until January of 2002, when he was designated Minister Secretary General of Government, a position from which he exercised considerable influence over policy, advising Lagos. He left the ministry in 2003, after being appointed Chile's ambassador to the United Nations, permanent representative, the position which he holds today.

Chile was elected a temporary member of the United Nations Security Council for 2003 and 2004, while Muñoz served as ambassador. Muñoz was chairman of a special UN committee on al Qaeda sanctions, during which he noted a reluctance by many countries to cooperate in reporting names and information to the committee and in acting on information received by the committee. He was troubled by al Qaeda's continued ability to circumvent sanctions, which he said "need more teeth". ^[1] In January 2004, Muñoz served as the President of the Security Council.

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[edit] References

• United Nations biography
• openDemocracy article and interview
• La Cuarta interview upon appointment to the UN (Spanish)
• Assessment of the President of the Security Council for the month of January 2004 (Muñoz's term)

Preceded by Claudio Huepe García	Minister Secretary General of Government 2002-2003	Succeeded by Francisco Vidal Salinas
Preceded by Juan Gabriel Valdés	Chilean Ambassador to the United Nations 2003 – present	Incumbent