September 28, 2009 Former Chilean Ambassador Genaro Arriagada Named Distinguished Visiting Scholar at John W. Kluge Center

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has named Genaro Arriagada, former ambassador of Chile to the United States, as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Library’s John W. Kluge Center.

At the Library, Arriagada will be writing about the political dimensions of energy security in Latin America, with a focus on the oil and gas situation in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia. While there is an abundance of reserves in the region, according to Arriagada, problems in the national oil industries will likely result in strong reductions in production in the coming years. Arriagada’s tenure at the Library is four weeks, until October 10.

Arriagada was ambassador to the United States from 1998 to 1999. He is currently a member of the Board of Banco del Estado de Chile, chairman of the board of a leading Chilean weekly newspaper and editor for a think tank devoted to the study of public policy.

During his political career, Arriagada served as minister secretary-general of the presidency (1994-1996) and was national director of the “No” Campaign that defeated General Augusto Pinochet in the plebiscite of October 1988. He also headed the presidential campaigns of Eduardo Frei (1993) and of Ricardo Lago (1999). Arriagada has published several books, articles and columns on political, social and economic issues, including “Pinochet: The Politics of Power” (1988). He has been a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and has taught and lectured at several American universities.

Through a generous endowment from John W. Kluge, the Library of Congress established the Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the world’s best thinkers to stimulate and energize one another to distill wisdom from the Library’s rich resources and to interact with policymakers in Washington. For further information on the Kluge Center, visit www.loc.gov/kluge/.