José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS)

José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) and one of Chile’s longest-serving public ministers, will speak at Notre Dame on Tuesday, April 22, at 4 pm in Remick Commons at the Institute for Educational Initiatives.

His presentation, titled “Growth, Inequality, and Democracy in the Americas,” is co-sponsored by the Institute for Educational Initiatives and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. Attendance is open to the public. A light reception will follow.

Secretary General Insulza was elected OAS Secretary General in 2005 and re-elected in 2010. He has a distinguished record of public service in his native Chile.

He holds degrees in law and political science and was a university professor until 1973. In the early 1970s, Insulza played an active role in Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity government. Following the coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet into power in Chile, Insulza went into exile for 15 years—first in Rome, then in Mexico.  He continued a life of scholarship and administrative leadership on campuses in Mexico.

When Insulza returned to Chile in early 1988, he joined the coalition that won a plebiscite against the Pinochet regime. Since then, he has held numerous high-level posts in several coalition governments. In 2000, he became President Ricardo Lagos’s Minister of the Interior and Vice President of the Republic.

Insulza was born in 1943. He is married with three children.

The Organization of American States, established in 1948 and headquartered in Washington, DC, comprises all independent countries of the Americas and pursues international cooperation spanning North, Central, and South America.