Juan Miguel Bakula Patino

Juan Miguel Bákula Patiño (Huaura, Huacho, Lima, Peru, February 17, 1914 - Miraflores, Lima, October 18, 2010), was a Peruvian historian, writer and diplomat.

Biography

He was the son of Juan Clímaco Bákula Pacheco, a cotton exporter, and Antonia Patiño Albarracín. In 1941 he married Laura Budge Nosiglia, with whom he had five children.

Studies

She did her first studies at the Colegio de las Monjas de la Reparación and then, from fourth grade and all of high school, at the Jesuits' Colegio de la Inmaculada, in Lima.

He was a doctor of law. He studied at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, also in Lima. In addition, he did two years of Economic Sciences and the same in Humanities.

Diplomatic life

He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru on January 4, 1934 as a meritorious typist and the Diplomatic Service of Peru on October 31, 1939 until he decided to resign, the day after the self-coup of April 5, 1992.

He was director of Borders at the Foreign Ministry for many years; representative of Peru in all neighboring countries; director of the Diplomatic Academy, and, finally, vice minister of Foreign Affairs (1963-1964).

He was also Ambassador of Peru in France between 1975 and 1978."One of the great figures of Peruvian diplomacy of all time", according to statements by Foreign Minister José Antonio García Belaúnde when lamenting his loss.

The Two Hundred Miles

Juan Miguel Bákula Patiño had an outstanding role in the consecration of the thesis of the 200 miles of the Peruvian territorial sea, in the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea and as secretary general of the Permanent Commission of the South Pacific.

Student of border limits

Juan Miguel Bákula was a diplomat who dedicated the 50 years of his professional career to study and understand the issue of the borders of Peru. That vast experience taught him to clearly distinguish what is "determinative" of what is "consequent" in the definition of the concept of borders.

Ambassador Bákula stated in a speech that "What is essential is the formation of the national space, that is, the way in which the country's effort to occupy its territory is expressed. Another different issue is the territorial delimitation with milestones, which is nothing more than a mechanical, objective operation". "Borders do not exist because a milestone is placed. The borders exist because men from both sides reached there with their effort, their will and their work".

Awards

On October 20, 2003, Ambassador Juan Miguel Bákula received the 2003 Southern Peru Award. He also received the José de la Riva-Agüero y Osma Medal from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. He was also awarded the Order of Merit for Distinguished Services in the degree of Grand Cross by the Republic of Peru. On August 26, 2010 (less than 2 months after his death) he was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. All these distinctions constitute the most important acknowledgments of intellectual work in Peru.

Awards

• Gran Cruz de la Orden al Mérito de Chile
• Gran Cruz de la Orden de Mayo de Argentina
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Brilliant Star of China
• Communicator of the National Order to Merit of Ecuador
• Commander of the Order of Elizabeth the Catholic
• Order of the Cross of the South of Brazil
• Officer of the Legion of Honour of France
• Medal of the Order of Rio Branco of Brazil
• Grand Officer of the Order of San Carlos de Colombia
• Grand Cross of the Order to Merit for Distinguished Services of Peru
• Grand Cross of the Order to Merit of the Diplomatic Service of Peru José Gregorio Paz Soldán del Perú

Posts

Among his more than 40 works, we can mention:

• "Peru: Between reality and utopia. 180 years of foreign policy" (2002), a work that offers a different vision but at the same time complementary to traditional views on the formation of the Peruvian state and history on Peruvian international relations.
• "Peru in the Kingdom of Others:Internal History of External Action". Published by the Editorial Fund of the University of Lima, 2007.
• "The International Management of Peru. Characters, Case Study and Documents".

• "The maritime domain of Peru". Published in 1985 by Fundación MJ Bustamante de la Fuente.