14 Facts About Leopoldo Benites

Leopoldo Benites was an Ecuadorian diplomat who served as the 28th President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1973.

Leopoldo Benites had been the permanent representative of Ecuador since October 1960.

Leopoldo Benites attended the University of Guayaquil, where he earned a degree in social and political science.

Leopoldo Benites was a diplomat who served as the Ecuadorean ambassador to a number of countries.

Leopoldo Benites worked as a journalist, a role in which he later said he was against dictatorship.

Leopoldo Benites was Ecuador's ambassador to Uruguay from 1947 to 1952.

Leopoldo Benites then became the Permanent representative at the United Nations.

Leopoldo Benites published short stories and poems as well as longer studies of the Ecuadoran hero Eugenio Espejo and Francisco de Orellana, the Spanish conquistador who travelled the length of the River Amazon and founded Leopoldo Benites' home city.

In 1965, Leopoldo Benites led the Ecuadorian delegation to a meeting for the Denuclearization of Latin America which was held in Mexico City.

Leopoldo Benites continued to work for denuclearization and in 1971 he became the first official Secretary-General of OPANAL an international organization that promotes nuclear disarmament.

Leopoldo Benites only resigned this post when he was told that he was a strong candidate to be the United Nations' next Secretary General.

Leopoldo Benites said "The arguments are my own, but the vote was my government's instruction".

Leopoldo Benites became the 28th President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1973.

Leopoldo Benites was one of 11 General Assembly presidents who were summoned back to the United Nations in 1985 to advise on how the UN could increase its impact.