Juan Gabriel Valdés

Juan Gabriel Valdés Soublette (Santiago, June 2, 1947) is a Chilean political scientist, diplomat and former minister during the Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle presidency. Between 1973 and 1976 he studied political science at Princeton University in the United States, where he obtained a Ph.D.

In 2014, Chilean president Michelle Bachelet appointed Valdés as Chilean ambassador to the United States.

From 2000 to 2003, Valdes was Chile's Ambassador to the United Nations.

He is the son of composer Sylvia Soublette and Gabriel Valdes, who also served as a Chilean diplomat.

Early life Valdés is the son of Gabriel Valdés Subercaseaux and Sylvia Soublette. He studied law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Between 1970 and 1973, he pursued political science at the University of Essex in England, earning a Master of Arts degree in Latin American Studies. From 1973 to 1976, he undertook doctoral studies in political science at Princeton University in the United States, where he received his Ph.D.. Upon his return to Chile, he became head of the International Affairs Division of the Ministry of Finance, where he led Chile's trade negotiations with Canada and initiated negotiations for Chile's accession to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas.

During the presidency of Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, he served as Director General of International Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from October 1996 to July 1999, before being appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. His tenure was dominated by the arrest of Augusto Pinochet in London. Like his predecessor, José Miguel Insulza, Valdés argued that Chile retained criminal jurisdiction over Pinochet and that he should therefore be tried only in Chile. The British Home Secretary, Jack Straw, ultimately ordered Pinochet's release on humanitarian grounds on 2 March 2000.

During the administration of Ricardo Lagos, Valdés was appointed Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations. In 2003, while serving on the United Nations Security Council, he represented Chile's opposition to the resolution authorizing military action against Iraq. Later that year, he was appointed Ambassador of Chile to Argentina.

In August 2004, he accepted appointment by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as head of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), a position he held until June 2006, following the 2006 Haitian presidential election.

Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, President Michelle Bachelet appointed him presidential delegate to coordinate Chile's humanitarian assistance to Haiti.

In 2013, Valdés unsuccessfully sought his party's nomination for a Senate seat representing the Los Ríos Region, losing the party primary to Alfonso de Urresti.

In 2014, President Michelle Bachelet appointed him Ambassador of Chile to the United States during her second administration.

After Bachelet joined the United Nations High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation in 2017, she vacated the position upon becoming United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights the following year. Valdés succeeded her on the advisory board on 17 January 2019.

In 2022, President Gabriel Boric again appointed Valdés as Ambassador of Chile to the United States.