Fernando Ayala González
Luis Fernando Ayala González (born 12 November 1952) is a Chilean diplomat, economist and academic.
During his diplomatic career, he served in Chilean diplomatic missions in South Korea, Sweden, the United States and Italy, and was Chilean ambassador to Vietnam, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago and Italy.
From March to September 2022, he served as Undersecretary of Defense under President Gabriel Boric. Since 2023, he has been an adjunct professor at the Institute of Political Science of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
Biography
Ayala studied history at the University of Chile for one year, until the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. In 1980, he obtained a degree in economics from the University of Zagreb, then part of Yugoslavia and now in Croatia.
In 1982, he entered the Diplomatic Academy of Chile through a competitive selection process and subsequently joined the Chilean Foreign Service. He later obtained a master's degree in political science from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
Diplomatic career
During his diplomatic career, Ayala served at the Chilean embassy in Seoul, South Korea, and as consul in Stockholm, Sweden, and Chicago, United States. He was subsequently appointed consul general in Milan, Italy.
In 2004, President Ricardo Lagos promoted him to the rank of ambassador and appointed him to establish the Chilean embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam. In 2006, President Michelle Bachelet appointed him Director General of Ceremonial and Protocol, a position he held for three and a half years.
From 2009 to 2012, Ayala served as Chilean ambassador to Portugal. From 2012 to 2014, he was ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, with concurrent accreditation to Guyana, Suriname, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Grenada. From 2014 to 2018, he served as ambassador to Italy, with concurrent accreditation to Malta and San Marino.
During his assignments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Santiago, Ayala worked in administrative, political and economic affairs. He also served as chief of staff to the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs and later to the Minister Secretary-General of Government.
Ayala resigned as ambassador to Italy on 10 March 2018, ending a 36-year career in the Chilean diplomatic service. He subsequently worked for two years as a consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, focusing on South–South cooperation and parliamentary affairs.
Academic and political career
From 2020 to 2022, Ayala served as Deputy Director for Strategic Development and Institutional Relations at the University of Chile.
On 11 March 2022, he took office as Undersecretary of Defense in the government of President Gabriel Boric. He remained in office until 8 September 2022, when he was succeeded by Gabriel Gaspar.
Since 2023, Ayala has taught at the Institute of Political Science of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He regularly writes on international and domestic affairs, including for Atlante, published by the Treccani Institute, and for Wall Street International Magazine in its Spanish, English and German editions. He has also contributed to the Chilean publication La Mirada Semanal and the Argentina-based publication Sur y Sur.
For his work in the Chilean Foreign Service, Ayala has received decorations from the governments of France, Italy, Portugal, El Salvador, the Netherlands, Jordan and Lithuania.