José Octavio Bordón

José Octavio Bordón brought experience as a sociologist, teacher, and elected politician to diplomacy. A graduate of the Universidad del Salvador, he taught political sociology at the National University of Cuyo and was a visiting professor at Georgetown. He represented Mendoza in the Chamber of Deputies, governed the province from 1987 to 1991, and subsequently served in the Senate. In 1995 he ran for president and finished second with about thirty percent of the vote. ^{1, 2}

Appointed ambassador to the United States in 2003, Bordón served during Argentina's negotiations over its defaulted debt. In April 2005, after Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna's Washington meetings, he publicly defended the government's refusal to reopen the bond exchange. He argued that Argentina's first obligation was to the holders who had accepted the restructuring and that promising repayments the country could not sustain would be irresponsible. His account also expressed satisfaction with the dialogue with Treasury Secretary John Snow and the IMF. ³

Education and regional democratic institutions remained part of Bordón's work beyond the embassy. He chaired an Inter-American Dialogue commission on education, equity, and competitiveness and advised international development organizations. In 2008–11 he led OAS election observation missions in the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Guatemala and worked on the joint OAS–UNDP project Nuestra Democracia en América. He later directed Cuyo's global affairs center and became ambassador to Chile, presenting credentials in March 2016. ^{1, 2}