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Dr. Galo Plaza took office as Secretary General of the
Organization of American States on May 18, 1968.
He was elected to this position following a distinguished
career in his country, Ecuador; Latin America; and the United Nations.
Before reaching the age of 42, he served as Mayor of
Quito, Minister of State, Ambassador, and President of the Republic of
Ecuador.
His father, General Leónidas Plaza Gutiérrez, was
President of Ecuador from 1901 to 1905 and from 1912 to 1916. In the interim
between his terms as President, General Plaza served as Minister in the
United States and while in that country, his son Galo Plaza was born in New
York City on February 17, 1906.
General Plaza was married to Avelina Lasso de Plaza, a
direct descendant of Captain Diego de Sandoval, one of the founders of Quito
in 1534. Mrs. Avelina Lasso was also the great-granddaughter of two
prominent figures of the independence movement in Ecuador, Francisco Javier
Ascásubi and Juan Salinas.
Galo Plaza completed his primary and high school studies
in Quito, and he studied agriculture and economics at the University of
California (Berkeley) and the University of Maryland. In 1929, he began his
studies in diplomacy at the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown
University in Washington, D.C., and it was in this city that he began his
diplomatic career as an attaché at the Embassy of Ecuador.
When his father died in 1932, Mr. Plaza returned to
Ecuador and dedicated himself to managing the family’s ranch. He used modern
growing techniques and imported Holstein cattle. Many of his innovations
were later adopted throughout Ecuador.
Galo Plaza’s interest in modern agricultural methods and
civic issues attracted the attention of political leaders. In 1937, he was
elected member of the Municipal Council of Quito and was elected Mayor the
following year. He remained in that position until 1939, when he was named
Ambassador of Ecuador to the United States. As this appointment occurred
during World War II, he was active in addressing inter-American problems. He
was a member of Ecuador’s delegation to the Inter-American Conference on
Problems of War and Peace, held in Mexico City in 1945, at which the bases
of the Rio Treaty and the OAS Charter were established.
In the same year he attended the San Francisco Conference
at which he signed the Charter of the United Nations.
In 1946, he resigned as Ambassador in order to return to
Ecuador and be part of the creation of a political party, the National
Democratic Civic Movement. With the support of this party, he launched his
candidacy for Senator of Pichincha province, in which Quito is located, and
he won. The following year he was elected President of the Republic.
In the four years of Mr. Galo Plaza’s constitutional term
of office, Ecuador enjoyed peak economic prosperity, political stability,
and great respect for civil liberties. According to the Constitution of
Ecuador, the President could not be reelected immediately, so Mr. Galo Plaza
handed over power to his successor, who was elected in free elections. At
the end of his term and because of his contribution to freedom of
information, the Inter-American Press Association paid special recognition
to him for his contribution to freedom of information.
During his presidency, Mr. Plaza went on official visits
to Colombia, the United States, Mexico, and Venezuela.
After his presidential term, he dedicated most of his
time to agriculture and cattle ranching.
In 1958, he presided over the Special Committee of the
Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) which, at its meetings in
Chile, Mexico City, and other locations, established the basis for a Latin
American common market.
The United Nations once again requested his services for
several special missions.
In 1958, he chaired the United Nations Observation Group
in Lebanon (UNOGIL), and in 1960 he served on the U.N. committee in charge
of studying problems related to the evacuation of Belgian bases established
though treaties in the Congo.
In May 1964, he was invited to Cyprus by the Secretary
General of the United Nations, U Thant, as his special representative to try
to contain the explosive political situation in that country. In September
1964, he was named mediator and was placed in charge of the negotiation of a
long-term agreement between Turkey, Greece, Greek Cypriots and Turkish
Cypriots. Mr. Plaza ended his mission on December 31, 1965, after presenting
a well-praised final report.
On February 13, 1968, he was elected Secretary General of
the Organization of American States, succeeding Dr. José Antonio Mora of
Uruguay. He was elected for a 10-year term, but he announced that he would
only hold that position for five years in acknowledgement of the new
provisions of the OAS Charter.
In his long career Mr. Plaza was honored by various
countries and recognized by many universities for his work on behalf of
world peace and for his contributions to agriculture. The United States,
Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Venezuela are among
those countries that have lauded him.
He received honorary doctorate degrees from the
University of Maryland, Columbia University, Washington University in Saint
Louis, Harvard University, the University of New Mexico, Williams College,
and the New School for Social Research. In 1967, he received the Elise and
Walter A. Haas International Award from the University of California
(Berkeley).
Because of his contribution to agriculture, in 1968 his
portrait was placed in the Agricultural Hall of Fame in Chicago during a
special ceremony attended by more than 200 cattle industry leaders in the
United States.
Mr. Plaza was designated “Key Man of the Americas” on
October 14, 1969, by the Avenue of the Americas Association in New York.
In 1955, he was honored with the annual award of the
Americas Foundation.
Mr. Plaza married Ms. Rosario Pallares Zaldumbide on
March 7, 1933. He had one son, Galo, and five daughters, Elisa, Luz,
Rosario, Marcela, and Margarita. He loved horses, bullfights, horse racing,
and men’s and women’s soccer.
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