Jaime Aparicio Otero (born August 30, 1955 in La Paz, Bolivia ) is the Bolivian Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States and was Bolivian Agent to the International Court of Justice, in the Hague, in the process against Chile related to the Silala waters. Ambassador Aparicio is a career diplomat, lawyer, journalist and a Washington-based legal and political advisor. He was also a political analyst working in international public and corporate affairs in Latin America, the Caribbean, North America, and Europe. He has a Law Degree from the Higher University of San Andrés of La Paz, the Bolivian Diplomatic Academy and the Institute d’Etudes Politiques commonly referred as Sciences Po de Paris.
With over two decades of personal experience dealing with the United States and with four different US Presidents JAO championed Access to Information as a Fundamental Human Right in the continent.
Aparicio has been working in issues related to international law, democracy, human rights, and rule of law in Latin America for more than 30 years. Aparicio's firm, Aparicio, Arp & Associates LLC, has submitted petitions to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission representing, among others, the Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez. and the "Ladies in White" Group (Damas de Blanco).
He was the Ambassador of Bolivia to the United States (2002-2006) and was later President of the Inter-American Juridical Committee of the OAS. Previously, he worked at the Organization of American States as Executive Secretary of the Summits of the Americas. Before that, he was Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Acting Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Bolivia. Aparicio led several missions to the General Assembly of the United Nations, UNESCO and the Organization of American States.
He has also served abroad in Venezuela and France as Bolivia's Permanent Representative to UNESCO in Paris.
In 2019, Aparicio sued President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) after Ortega jumped a constitutional ban on presidential re-election with help from a Supreme Court filled with his supporters setting a major precedent for similar unconstitutional re-elections across the continent and more especially of his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales. Aparicio has become one of the most vocal opponents to dictatorships across Latin America, especially in Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Personal life and family background
Aparicio was born in La Paz on August 30, 1955. He is the son of Elisa Otero Calderón and Enrique Aparicio Chopitea, an old-established and once affluent noble family. His father Enrique, born in Sucre, Bolivia, was a Ph.D graduate from Columbia University (Public Health), and a Professor and Dean at the Faculty of Medicine of the Higher University of San Andrés (Universidad Mayor de San Andrés). His mother Elisa was the sister of Jaime Otero Calderon, an intellectual and very influential congressman and journalist. Aparicio's cousin Maria Otero was the first holder of the office of the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights under President Barack Obama's administration. Maria is also the highest-ranking Latina in the State Department's history.
Aparicio studied law at Higher University of San Andrés (Universidad Mayor de San Andrés) in La Paz, Bolivia, he also graduated from the Bolivian Diplomatic Academy. He then studied Universal Jurisdiction at the Sorbonne University and Political Science at the Institut d'Études Politiques in Paris, France and International Relations at the Fondazione Di Ricerche E Studi Internazionali, Farnesina (Italian Foreign Office) in Florence, Italy.
Aparicio is divorced and has three children.
Recent work and legal career
Aparicio has been working in issues related to international law, democracy, human rights, and rule of law in Latin America for more than 25 years. Aparicio created Aparicio, Arp & Associates LLC a consulting group based in Washington, D.C., specialized in international litigation, mediation, and arbitration on international public and private law. He also practices international litigation on cases of violation of individual freedoms, political rights, private property, freedom of expression, and abuse of power in cases like TIPNIS in Bolivia; submitting cases to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission representing, among others, the Cuban blogger, Yoani Sánchez, Marta Beatriz Roque from the "Ladies in White" Group (Damas de Blanco); or representing the former presidential candidate, Fabio Gadea, from Nicaragua, against the unconstitutional reelection of Daniel Ortega.