the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH). He succeeds María Isabel Salvador of Ecuador. The UN said that Ruiz Massieu brings to this position over 30 years of experience in public service and diplomacy, both in bilateral and multilateral contexts. It said as special representative of the secretary general in Colombia since 2019, he led the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, monitoring the implementation of the peace agreement between the government of Colombia and the FARC-EP guerrilla.

He provided good offices and political leadership in the recent peace dialogues of the government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army, as well as with other illegal armed groups. Prior to this assignment, he served as the chairperson of the General Assembly’s Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions from 2013 to 2018. The spokesperson for the secretary general, Stéphane Dujarric, said Massieu will assume his new functions in Haiti in August.  A distinguished career diplomat, Ruiz Massieu served in different positions in the Mexican government prior to joining the United Nations. He is a graduate in Law from the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, and holds a Master of Arts in politics from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom, with a focus on Latin America. In addition to Spanish, he speaks English and French. (Jamaica Gleaner)