Víctor Andrés Belaúnde


Víctor Andrés Belaúnde Diez Canseco was a Peruvian diplomat who chaired the fourteenth session and the fourth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Belaúnde was born in Arequipa, Peru. After receiving his early education there at the Escuela San Vicente and San José, he decided to study law at the Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa and later transferred to finish his studies at the National University of San Marcos in Lima. In addition to receiving his law degree, he also obtained doctorates in political sciences and administration and in literature in 1911.
Among the positions Belaúnde occupied throughout his professional career were: Secretary of the File of Limits of the Ministry of External Relations of Peru, becoming Secretary in the Diplomatic Mission to Spain and Argentina, Consultant in the bordering negotiations with Brazil, Chargé d'affaires in Germany and Bolivia, Plenipotentiary Secretary in Uruguay in 1919, Colombia in 1934 and in Switzerland in 1936, President of the Peruvian delegation before the League of Nations, where he had the opportunity of subscribing the San Francisco Letter, which gave origin to the Organization of the United Nations, President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Rector pro tempore and finally Rector of the Catholic University of Peru.
He also lectured on Hispanic-American culture throughout various universities in the United States while in exile, such as Columbia University, University of Miami, and the University of Chicago. In 1930 he delivered the Albert Shaw Lectures on Diplomatic History at Johns Hopkins University. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1944.
He died in New York City.

Family

Victor Andrés Belaunde was a member of a notable Peruvian political family. His nephew Fernando Belaunde Terry was President twice; his brother Rafael Belaunde Diez Canseco was Prime Minister from 1945-1946; and his grandfather Pedro Diez Canseco was also President three times.

Selected writings