Gustavo Meza-Cuadra Velásquez

Gustavo Meza-Cuadra Velásquez built a diplomatic career around multilateral negotiations and international law. He studied at Peru’s Diplomatic Academy and pursued graduate work in international public policy at Johns Hopkins and in diplomacy and international organizations in Paris. Before becoming foreign minister, he advised the Peruvian legal team in the maritime boundary case against Chile before the International Court of Justice. ^{1, 2}

Appointed Peru’s permanent representative to the United Nations in 2013, he presided over the Security Council in April 2018 and June 2019 and chaired UN consultations on oceans and the law of the sea. He served as foreign minister from October 2019 to July 2020 and later directed the Diplomatic Academy. In 2022–2023 he chaired the first phase of negotiations toward an international agreement on plastic pollution, subsequently continuing in the negotiating committee’s bureau. ^{1, 2, 3}

His 2023 Washington appointment placed him in a shorter bilateral role. In May he delivered copies of his credentials to U.S. Chief of Protocol Rufus Gifford. That August he accompanied Defence Minister Jorge Chávez during the announcement of an understanding to restore American support for aerial drug interdiction. His later professional record includes representation on the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization. ^{3, 4, 2}