United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Carlos Ruiz Massieu of Mexico as his Special Representative for Colombia and Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia in December 2018.

Mr. Ruiz Massieu brings to this position nearly 30 years of experience in public service and diplomacy, both in bilateral and multilateral contexts. He has been deeply involved in establishing and supporting the United Nations peacekeeping operations and the three United Nations reform streams: Development, Management, and Peace and Security. 

Mr. Ruiz Massieu was appointed to the General Assembly’s Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) in 2011. In 2013, he was elected Chairperson of the Committee at the Under-Secretary-General level, a position he held until December 2018.

A distinguished career diplomat since 1999, he has served as Representative of Mexico to the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), at governing bodies of United Nations Funds and Programmes, and at the Main Committees of the General Assembly dealing with management and development issues. 

He also served as Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico and was posted at the Embassy of Mexico in Costa Rica. Previously, he held positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Social Development.

Mr. Ruiz Massieu holds a law degree from Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, and a master’s degree in political science, with a focus on Latin American politics, from University of Essex, United Kingdom.

           Twitter: @CGRuizMassieu

Raúl Rosende has 30 years of experience in coordinating peace initiatives and monitoring peace agreements, facilitating negotiations between authorities and non-state armed actors, and verifying peace and humanitarian agreements. Throughout his career, he has worked for the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS). Since 2016, he has been the Verification Director of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia.

Mr. Rosende was the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Northern Syria from 2014 to 2016; Director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Damascus, Syria from 2013 to 2014, and in Yemen from 2010 to 2013. From 2008 to 2010 he was UNDP Peace Advisor in Palestine and from 2006 to 2008 he was Head of OCHA in Colombia, where he had previously been Advisor to the Resident Coordinator and Programme Coordinator.

In previous years, he worked as Political Advisor to the UN Missions in Afghanistan and Guatemala.

Before joining the UN, Rosende was Programme Coordinator for the OAS in Guatemala (1997-2000) and in Nicaragua (1990-1996).

He holds a Master's degree in International Relations and a Master's degree in Peacebuilding.

Raúl Rosende is Uruguayan and has two daughters.