- Emilio Arenales Catalán
Emilio Arenales Catalán (
May 10 ,1922 -April 17 ,1969 ) was theforeign minister ofGuatemala from 1966 to 1969 and the president of theUnited Nations Twenty-Third General Assembly from 1968 to 1969. He was born and died inGuatemala City .Mr. Arenales was born in Guatemala City on May 10th, 1922. He held the degrees of Bachelor of Sciences and Letters from the "Instituto Modelo" in
Guatemala City (1932-1949), and Juridical Sciences from the "Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala " (1940-1945).Mr. Arenales was married in 1946 to the former Lucy Dorion Cabarrus. They had four children: Rodrigo Arenales Dorion (1947-2002), Álvaro Arenales Dorion (b. 1949), María de la Luz Arenales de Aycinena (b. 1950) and María de los Ángeles Arenales de Willemsen (b. 1953).
A summary of his achievements at the
United Nations follows:1946: Associated with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (
UNESCO ).1946: Founder and Head of Division of Relations of the
United Nations and its specialized agencies.1946-1948: Legal Counselor to the
UNESCO Preparatory Commission.1946-1949: Deputy Head of Section of External Relations and External Relations Counselor for
UNESCO .1947:
UNESCO Deputy Head of Mission to Latin America, together with SirJulian Huxley and Professor Samuel Ramos. The mission intended to visit each Latin American country and invite them to participate in the firstUNESCO General Conference.1947: Secretary Assistant to the External Relations Commission and Administrative Affairs at the I
UNESCO General Conference,México .1948: Proposed the plan to organize the National Commissions of the member countries, based on the experience of the
League of Nations and the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation. When the plan was accepted, he was named Emissary toUNESCO , and visited a number of Latin American countries, promoting the creation and/or reorganization of National Commissions.1948:
UNESCO representative before the IXPan-American Conference ,Bogotá ,Colombia .1948:
UNESCO Head of Latin American Mission.1948: Secretary-General of the
UNESCO International Conference of the Hylean Amazon, which met inLima ,Perú andManaus ,Brazil , having previously visited the participating governments in order to ensure their support and cooperation.1948:
UNESCO General Secretary at the Regional Conference on Scientific Cooperation,Montevideo ,Uruguay .1948: Secretary of External Relations Commission and Administrative Affairs at the II
UNESCO General Assembly,Beirut ,Lebanon .1949-1954: Returned to
Guatemala and engaged in private law practice.1954-1955: Attended the IX and X
United Nations General Assembly as Delegate to the fifth and sixth sessions of the United Nations Committee on Non-Self-Governing Territories, in charge of the fourth commission, Colonial Affairs.1955-1958: Ambassador and
Permanent Representative ofGuatemala to theUnited Nations .1955: Vice-President of the United Nations Committee on Non-Self-Governing Territories.
1955: Guatemalan
United Nations representative at the Special Session of the General Assembly, to commemorate its 10th anniversary,San Francisco ,California .1955: Chief of the Guatemalan Delegation before the X
United Nations General Assembly , Commission of Private Affairs.1956: Chief of the Guatemalan Delegation before the XI
United Nations General Assembly ; elected Chairman of the Commission for Political Affairs.1956: Appointed President of the Financial Committee of the United Nations Committee on Non-Self-Governing Territories.
1956: President of the United Nations Committee on Non-Self-Governing Territories. (See
United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories .)1957: Elected Chairman of the Political Affairs Commission and President of the Special Political Commission at the XII session of the
United Nations General Assembly .1957: Vice-President of the
United Nations Trusteeship Council .1958: President of the
United Nations Trusteeship Council and President of the Group of Latin American Ambassadors before theUnited Nations .1958-1966: Returned to
Guatemala and engaged in private law practice until 1966, when he was appointedForeign Minister of his country.1968: President of the
United Nations Twenty-Third General Assembly from 1968 to 1969.References
[http://www.un.org/ga/55/president/bio23.htm United Nations biography]
Biographical and Achievements information volunteered by Lucy Dorion, widow of Emilio Arenales, and posted by their grandson, Challen Willemsen (b. 1980).
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