In Memoriam

Miguel A. Marin

He was known to us at Yale as Miguel A. Marin, but later used the name Miguel Marín Bosch. He died in April 2017 after a distinguished career in diplomacy.

Below are his obituary and a tribute by a colleague.

• Obituary by the International Panel on Fissile Materials
• Tribute by Pugwash President Jayantha Dhanapala

---

Obituary

In Memoriam: Ambassador Miguel Marín Bosch (1942-2017)

Published by IPFM

October 16, 2017

Miguel Marín Bosch, a distinguished diplomat from Mexico, was one of the early and enthusiastic supporters of IPFM [International Panel on Fissile Materials]. He supported the initial idea of the panel and participated in the April 2005 workshop in Washington, DC, that explored the idea of the panel. He joined the panel in 2006 when it was set up.

Born in Mexico City in 1942, Miguel was educated as a historian at Yale and received a Master's degree and PhD from Columbia University. He joined Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1969.

He served as its Permanent Representative to the UN Conference on Disarmament from 1989-1995, and as Deputy Foreign Minister of Mexico for Africa, Asia, Europe and multilateral affairs, including disarmament from 2000 to 2002.

In 1994, Miguel chaired the first year of the negotiations on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. He also contributed to achievement of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Land-Mine Ban Treaty.

Miguel was well described by US Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr. in Disarmament Sketches: Three Decades of Arms Control and International Law. Writing about the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference, Ambassador Graham observed:

For twenty-five years, Mexico had been a thorn in the side of the United States at disarmament conferences ... Miguel Marin Bosch was seen by many as our greatest antagonist ... He was brilliant, witty and charming.

After his retirement in 2002, Miguel continued to give his time to disarmament issues. He served as Director-General of Mexico's Diplomatic Academy (Instituto Matías Romero), and was a professor at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. He also was the founder and president of Desarmex, a non-governmental organization working on disarmament and arms control education. He was the author of five books on disarmament, international relations, and history.

IPFM member Rebecca Johnson, who perhaps knew Miguel the longest, remembers the "unfailing kindness and generosity he showed to me and so many NGO representatives and younger diplomats. He taught us so much about diplomatic strategies and tactics, and was one of the wisest and most passionately committed of his generation."

top

---

Remembering Miguel Marin Bosch (1942-2017)

Pugwash President Jayantha Dhanapala reflects on the life of Pugwash council member Miguel Marin Bosch.

Published by Pugwash.org

April 6, 2017

[The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an international organization that works toward reducing the danger of armed conflict. It was founded in Pugwash, Nova Scotia.]

I am personally grieved to learn of the death of Ambassador Miguel Marin Bosch, a redoubtable champion of disarmament throughout his distinguished career as Mexico’s Disarmament Ambassador in Geneva and other multilateral fora.

Miguel Marin Bosch was closely associated with me in several Review Conferences of the Treaty for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) where he stood steadfast against any compromise on fundamental principles. With his prodigious expertise and mordant wit, he was the bane of some of the nuclear weapon states who shamelessly lobbied to silence him, especially at the NPT Review and Extension Conference of 1995. We were closely associated in the Conference on Disarmament, in the First Committee of the General Assembly, and other disarmament fora. Our comradeship in Pugwash was all too brief but Miguel was one of our stalwarts.

On my assumption of duties as Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament, heading a re-established Department for Disarmament Affairs in the UN in New York, I was happy Miguel accepted my invitation to join the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters where he made an enormous contribution with several initiatives such as on Disarmament Education on which he chaired the Group of Governmental Experts.

Mexico and Latin America, the first continent to have a nuclear-weapon-free zone fifty years ago, have produced many outstanding diplomats dedicated to disarmament. Among them, the names of Alfonso Garcia Robles and Miguel Marin Bosch will shine as models for future generations of diplomats and others working on multilateral disarmament.

I send my condolences to the family, and to the Government and the people of Mexico. Pugwash has suffered a grievous and irreparable loss.

top