José Maria Ridao

Diplomat and writer, the Spanish Government’s ambassador to UNESCO. Curator of the exhibition "At war".

This graduate in Arab Philology and Law joined the Diplomatic Corps in 1987; he was Head of the Near East Department within the Directorate General for the Middle East of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1987 to 1988; advisor to the Secretary of State for International Cooperation and Latin America from 1988 to 1989; Counsellor at the Spanish Embassy in Angola from 1989 to 1991; Spanish Consul in Moscow between 1991 and 1992; Counsellor of the Spanish Embassy in Equatorial Guinea from 1992 to 1994; Counsellor of the Spanish Embassy for the OCDE and delegate on the Development Aid Committee of the same body from 1994 to 1998, and Head of Studies of the Diplomatic School from 1998 to 2000. In 2000 he applied for voluntary leave of absence in order to devote himself fulltime to his intellectual work. He is currently a contributor to newspapers such as El País and to Cadena Ser radio station.

Bibliography: Agosto en el paraíso, 1998; Excusas para el doctor Huarte, 1999; Contra la historia, 2000; La desilusión permanente, 2000; El mundo a media voz, 2001, and La elección de la barbarie, 2002.