Emilio Arenales Catalán

Emilio Arenales Catalán (May 10, 1922 – April 17, 1969) was the foreign minister of Guatemala from 1966 to 1969 and the president of the United Nations Twenty-Third General Assembly from 1968 to 1969. He was born and died in Guatemala City.

Mr. Arenales was born in Guatemala City. He held the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Letters from the Instituto Modelo in Guatemala City (1932–1949) and Juridical Science from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (1940–1945).

Mr. Arenales was married in 1946 to the former Lucy Dorion Cabarrus. They had four children: Rodrigo Arenales Dorion (1947–2002), Álvaro Arenales Dorion (b. 1949), María de la Luz Arenales de Aycinena (b. 1950) and María de los Ángeles Arenales de Willemsen (b. 1953).

The following list details Catalán's major achievements during his time with the U.N.

1946: Associated with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

1946: Founder and Head of Division of Relations of the United Nations and its specialized agencies.

1946-1948: Legal Counselor to the UNESCO Preparatory Commission.

1946-1949: Deputy Head of Section of External Relations and External Relations Counselor for UNESCO.

1947: UNESCO Deputy Head of Mission to Latin America, together with Sir Julian Huxley and Professor Samuel Ramos. The mission intended to visit each Latin American country and invite them to participate in the first UNESCO General Conference.

1947: Secretary Assistant to the External Relations Commission and Administrative Affairs at the I UNESCO General Conference, México.

1948: Proposed the plan to organize the National Commissions of the member countries, based on the experience of the League of Nations and the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation. When the plan was accepted, he was named Emissary to UNESCO, and visited a number of Latin American countries, promoting the creation and/or reorganization of National Commissions.

...
Wikipedia