President Piñera appoints Chilean Ambassadors abroad

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Ampuero, informed that the President of the Republic, Sebastián Piñera, has appointed new Chilean Ambassadors abroad.

They are Felipe Morandé Lavín in the Chilean Mission to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Hernán Salinas in the Permanent Mission of Chile to the Organization of American States (OAS) and Ricardo Hernández Menéndez in Colombia.

Ambassador Morandé is a commercial engineer from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Minnesota.

He was Minister of Transport and Telecommunications during the first government of President Sebastián Piñera. He has been Manager of the Studies Division and Chief Economist of the Central Bank and Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business of the Universidad de Chile.

He has worked as an associate researcher at Stanford and Georgetown Universities and as a consultant for institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank, among others.

Ambassador Salinas is a lawyer from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and a PhD candidate in Law.

He is Chairman of the Inter-American Juridical Committee of the Organization of American States. He was Legal Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the first government of President Sebastián Piñera and Legal Deputy Director between 1992 and 1998.

He is a member of the Chilean Lawyers Team in the case on the Obligation to Negotiate with Bolivia and was part of the Advisory Team in the trial on Maritime Delimitation with Peru, both before the International Court of Justice.

Ambassador Hernández is a Public Administrator from the University of Chile and a graduate of the Andrés Bello Diplomatic Academy. He studied a Master's degree in Economics at the Universidad Javeriana de Colombia and holds a Diploma in Senior Management for Foreign Service Advisors from the Universidad de Chile.

He was currently serving as Head of Cabinet to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

He has worked in the Embassies in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, as well as in the Mission to the United Nations, among other positions abroad. In addition, he has served in the Multilateral Policy Directorate, as Chief of Staff to the Director General of Administration and the Director General of Foreign Policy, among other responsibilities within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Meanwhile, Juan Aníbal Barría, Chile's ambassador to the Permanent Mission of Chile to the Organization of American States (OAS), will assume duties in another embassy.

In addition, the President of the Republic, Sebastián Piñera, has ratified the ambassadors of Chile in Peru, Roberto Ibarra; in Spain, Jorge Tagle; in Kenya, Hernán Brantes; in Switzerland, Francisco Gormaz; in Singapore, James Sinclair; and the alternate ambassador in the Permanent Mission to International Organizations based in Geneva, Carla Serazzi.