Ambassador Alfredo Toro Hardy

Ambassador Alfredo Toro Hardy is a retired Venezuelan career diplomat, scholar and author. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the Geneva School of Diplomacy, a Master of Laws from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Science from the Central University of Venezuela. He also earned a postgraduate diploma in diplomatic studies from the École nationale d’administration (ENA) in France.

He served as an ambassador under five Venezuelan presidential administrations. Before resigning from his country’s foreign service in protest against the government’s authoritarian direction, he served as Ambassador to Brazil, Chile, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain and Singapore. He also served as Director of the Pedro Gual Diplomatic Academy of the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A former Fulbright Scholar, he was a Visiting Professor at Princeton University. He also served as an academic adviser on diplomatic studies to the University of Westminster. He was elected by the Council of Faculties of the University of Cambridge as Simón Bolívar Chair Professor for Latin American Studies for 2006–2007 but had to decline the position because of his diplomatic responsibilities.

He is a two-time Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Resident Scholar, an Honorary Fellow of the Geneva School of Diplomacy and a member of the Bellagio Center’s Experts Review Panel. He has authored twenty-one books and co-authored fifteen others on international affairs. His latest book was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2022. He is also a regular columnist for several international publications, including Global Policy.