Diplomat and lawyer Dr. Jose A.
Mora, was born in Montevideo on November 22, 1897. In 1925 he became a Doctor in Law and
Social Sciences from the Law School of the University of Montevideo and the same year he
integred the Ministry of External Relations as Second Secretary of legal issues. In 1926
he went to Madrid, Spain and Portugal. In the next following four years he was working in
similar positions in Brazil and the United States.
When he returned to the Uruguayan Capital in 1931, he was
designated Chief of the International Organization Division of the Ministry of External
Relations. Thus he began his long and valuable experience in International Conferences. In
1935 he went to the Commercial Conference which was celebrated in Buenos Aires and was the
General Secretary of the Uruguayan Delegation. In 1936 he went to the Inter American
Conference for Peace Consolidation which was celebrated also in Buenos Aires and in 1938
was temporal Representative of the Nations League in its headquarter in Geneva.
He was Advisor of the Uruguayan Delegation in three External Relations
Minister Conferences: The Panama, celebrated in 1939; Havana, in 1940 and the Rio de
Janeiro in 1942. That last year he was named Plenipotentiary Minister in Bolivia and he
served that position until 1944, year in which he assisted to the Inter-American
Commission of Development Conference celebrated in New York while he was the President of
the Uruguayan Delegation.
When he went back to Montevideo in 1945, he was named Director
of the International Organization Division, Congresses and Conferences of the External
Relations Ministry, which was extended. He took place as Advisor of the Uruguayan
Delegation in the Inter-American Conference of War and Peace Problems in Mexico and in the
United Nations Conference in San Francisco. He also was a Delegate of the Uruguayan
Supplementary in Washington in the Jurists Committee, which wrote up the International
Justice Court statute.
In 1946, Dr. Mora was named Plenipotentiary Minister in the United
States. Moreover he represented his country in the International Sanitary Conference of
United Nations (New York); in the second part of the First General Assembly
of the United Nations in 1947 and, in the Inter-American Conference for the Continent
Security and Peace Maintenance, which was celebrated in Rio de Janeiro, in which the
Inter-American Reciprocal Assistance Treaty was subscribed.
Dr. Mora was Plenipotentiary Delegated to the Ninth American
International Conference celebrated in Bogota in 1948 and Uruguayan Representative in the
Organization of American States Council from which he was its first Vice– President.
In 1950 he was President of the Consulting Body for the Caribbean
Situation Commission and in 1931 he was Plenipotentiary Delegate to the Peace Conference
with Japan, which was celebrated in San Francisco. In March 26, 1951 he was named
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Uruguay to United States and in the same
year he represented Uruguay in the fourth External Relations Consult Ministers Meeting of
the American Republics, celebrated in Washington.
In 1954 he was President of the Uruguayan Delegation to the Tenth
Inter-American Conference, celebrated in Caracas from November 1954 to November of 1955.
He was the President of the Organization of American States Council.
When he was the President of the Council named in the last paragraph,
Dr. Mora was praised by his Ambassadors Colleges for the effort in favor to the
continental armony and because of his ability to direct the activities of that Body. The
arrangement between Costa Rica and Nicaragua disputes was a particular motive for which
Dr. Mora was praised.
In October 8, 1955, the Inter-American Association for Freedom and
Democracy gave him a condecoration because of his valuable contribution to Democracy.
In January 16, 1956, Dr. Mora was elected General Secretary of the
Organization of American States to complete the unfinished exercise of Dr Carlos Dávila,
of Chile, that passed away in October of 1955. In May of 1958, the Rollins College (Winter
Park, Florida) conferred him the honorary title of Doctor in Humanities.
In June of 1959, he received honorary degrees of Doctor in Civil Law
and Doctor in Law from the Universities of Pittsburgh and Colgate, respectively. Dr. Mora
married Miss. Susana Nery and had two daughters, Gladys and Susana, and a son Juan
Antonio.
