The Dictator's Shadow: Life Under Augusto Pinochet

Event offered by:
Foreign Policy Association

Event Details

Date:
Thursday, October 8, 2009
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM 
Location:
Grupo Santander
45 E. 53rd St. (between Park & Madison Avenues)
New York, NY
Event type
Conference  

Event Transcripts and Video

Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations discusses his recent book, "The Dictator's Shadow: Life Under Augusto Pinochet." A book signing will follow the talk.

Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz is the Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations and Chairman of the United Nations Peace-Building Commission (elected by unanimity in January 2009). He was President of the U.N. Security Council in January 2004 and was also Chairman of the Al Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee of the Security Council during 2003 and 2004. In 2006-2008 he served as facilitator and Vice Chairman of the General Assembly Task Force on Security Council reform.

Event Speakers

    • Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz
      Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations

      In February 2009, Ambassador Muñoz was appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as Chairman of the International Commission of Inquiry into the assassination of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, M. Benazir Bhutto.

      Ambassador Muñoz was Minister Secretary-General (2002-2003) and Deputy Foreign Minister (2000-2002) with the administration of President Ricardo Lagos. He was also Ambassador of Chile to Brazil (1994-1998) and Ambassador of Chile to the Organization of American States (1990-1994). During the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990) he held leadership positions in the dissidence movement, in the Socialist Party of Chile, and was a co-founder of the Party for Democracy (PPD). He integrated the Executive Committee of the “NO campaign” that defeated Pinochet in the 1988 plebiscite.

      Ambassador Muñoz holds a Ph.D in International Studies from the University of Denver; a Diploma in International Relations from the Catholic University of Chile (with honors); and a B.A. in Political Science from the State University of New York, Oswego. He has been a visiting professor or lecturer at several universities in the United States, Europe and Latin America, having written or edited more than a dozen books and many essays in academic journals such as Foreign Policy, The Journal of Democracy, and the Latin American Research Review. His opinion pieces have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, Folha de Sao Paulo and others.

      His book A Solitary War on the Iraq War and the UN Security Council appeared in April 2008 (Fulcrum Publishing), with a Foreword by Kofi Annan. His most recent book, The Dictator's Shadow: Life Under Augusto Pinochet (Basic Books, September 2008), winner of the WOLA-Duke University 2009 Book Award, has been favorably reviewed by Foreign Affairs, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and The Washington Post (which listed it among the best books of 2008).

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