Dr. Franklin Barriga López

Franklin Barriga López (Ecuadorian, 1945) holds a doctorate in Social, Political, and International Sciences, with postgraduate studies at the Institute of Higher National Studies of Ecuador, Complutense University (Madrid, Spain), and CLAD (Mexico City). He has received more than fifteen honorary doctorates in Ecuador and abroad, as well as the title of Doctor of Doctors (Mexican Doctoral Council). He is the author of 140 published works and more than three thousand articles in leading newspapers and magazines, not only in Latin America but also throughout the Iberian Peninsula.

A writer, historian, journalist, professor, international civil servant, and humanist, his academic, cultural, and educational activities have spanned five continents, encompassing universities, postgraduate institutes, and diplomatic academies. Among numerous awards, he won First Prize in the Intercontinental Competition organized in 1983 by the OAS and the Government of Venezuela for writers of English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, with his book "Simón Bolívar and Education in America." He belongs to numerous academies in Ecuador and in countries throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Currently, he is the Honorary Life Director of the National Academy of History of Ecuador, Perpetual President of the American Congress of Liberty, which brings together the academies of the American continent, and Universal Ambassador of Peace (Geneva, Switzerland; Paris, France).

The National Assembly (Congress) of Ecuador conferred upon him its highest honor, declaring him a "leading figure of Ecuadorian culture." The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights recognized him as a Great Builder of Peace. At the Madrid Forum 2007, held at the Casa de América (Madrid) and the Faculty of International Sciences of the University of Murcia, he was proclaimed "an illustrious Ecuadorian of worldwide renown who honors Ibero-American culture." In Paris, he received the Golden Pen Award.