Ximena Fuentes
Ximena Carolina Fuentes Torrijo (born February 15, 1968) is a Chilean lawyer, diplomat, and academic specializing in public international law. She served as Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs from 2022 to 2023 and as Chile's ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2024 to 2026. She was director of the National Directorate of Borders and State Limits (DIFROL) from 2015 to 2022 and represented Chile before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in several proceedings, including as agent in the Silala water dispute with Bolivia from 2016 to 2022.
Fuentes is an associate professor of public international law at the University of Chile and holds a DPhil in international law from the University of Oxford. Her academic work has addressed international and domestic law, international environmental law, international watercourses, and international dispute settlement. In 2026, she received the White & Case Distinguished Jessup Alumni Award from the International Law Students Association.
Early life and education
Fuentes was born in Viña del Mar, Chile, on February 15, 1968. She attended Santiago College, graduating in 1985, and studied law at the University of Chile, where she received a degree in legal and social sciences and qualified as a lawyer in 1994.
She pursued doctoral studies at the University of Oxford, receiving a DPhil in international law in 2000. Her doctoral thesis, supervised by Ian Brownlie, examined criteria for the equitable utilization of international watercourses.
In 1990, while a law student at the University of Chile, Fuentes participated in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. She later received the 2026 White & Case Distinguished Jessup Alumni Award, which recognizes former participants who have developed distinguished careers and made significant contributions to the field of international law.
Academic career
Fuentes began teaching public international law at the University of Talca in 1994 and subsequently joined the faculty of the University of Chile, where she became an associate professor of public international law. She has taught courses including public international law and international dispute settlement.
From 2005 to 2015, she also taught at the Adolfo Ibáñez University, where she became a full professor in 2011. She has additionally taught in the master's program in international law at the Heidelberg Center for Latin America, a partnership involving the Heidelberg University.
Her scholarship has addressed the relationship between international and domestic law, international environmental law, international watercourses, international human rights law, and international dispute settlement. She has published in journals including Estudios Internacionales, Derecho y Humanidades, and Revista de Derecho (Coquimbo).
Legal and government career
Fuentes worked in Chilean international litigation and arbitration before entering senior government positions. From 2008 to 2012, she worked as a legal adviser at the Chilean law firm Bofill Mir Álvarez Jana Abogados and participated in Chile's legal representation in proceedings before the ICJ.
She was part of Chile's legal team in the maritime dispute between Chile and Peru, in which Peru instituted proceedings against Chile before the ICJ in 2008. The Chilean team was headed by agent Alberto van Klaveren and co-agent María Teresa Infante Caffi.
Fuentes also represented claimants in investment arbitration proceedings against Bolivia in the Quiborax v. Bolivia case before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
During the first government of Sebastián Piñera, Fuentes served as executive coordinator of Chile's defense in the case concerning Bolivia's alleged obligation to negotiate sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean before the ICJ. In its 2018 judgment, the ICJ found that Chile had not undertaken a legal obligation to negotiate Bolivia's sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean.
Director of DIFROL
On October 15, 2015, during Michelle Bachelet's second admnistration, Fuentes became director of the National Directorate of Borders and State Limits (DIFROL), after being selected through Chile's Senior Public Management System. She remained in the position during the second Piñera administration. As director, she represented DIFROL in matters concerning Chile's borders and territorial limits and participated in the government's legal work before international courts.
In June 2016, the Chilean government appointed Fuentes as its agent in the case concerning the status and use of the waters of the Silala before the ICJ. Chile had instituted proceedings against Bolivia on June 6, 2016, asking the Court to declare, among other matters, that the Silala was an international watercourse and that Chile had rights to the equitable and reasonable use of its waters.
Fuentes remained agent in the Silala case after leaving DIFROL in March 2022. She led Chile's oral arguments during the ICJ hearings in April 2022. The ICJ delivered its judgment on December 1, 2022, finding that the Silala is an international watercourse and that both Chile and Bolivia have rights to equitable and reasonable use of its waters under customary international law.
Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs
In February 2022, President-elect Gabriel Boric announced Fuentes as his choice for Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs. At the time, she was a member of Social Convergence, Boric's party.
She assumed office on March 11, 2022, succeeding Carolina Valdivia, who had held the position until January 2022 and was followed temporarily by Gloria Navarrete and José Avaria before Fuentes took office. During her tenure, she represented the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in bilateral and multilateral diplomatic activities and continued to serve as Chile's agent in the Silala case.
Fuentes left the undersecretariat on March 10, 2023, during Boric's second cabinet reshuffle, and was succeeded by political scientist Gloria de la Fuente.
Ambassador to the United Kingdom
On April 25, 2024, Boric appointed Fuentes as Chile's ambassador to the United Kingdom, after the British government granted its agreement to the appointment. The appointment followed the departure of her predecessor, Susana Herrera.
Fuentes presented her credentials to King Charles III at Buckingham Palace on February 6, 2025. During the meeting, they discussed Chile–United Kingdom relations, including energy transition and academic links between the two countries.
Fuentes's tenure as ambassador ended in 2026. In June 2026, President José Antonio Kast appointed former Chamber of Deputies president Diego Paulsen as Chile's ambassador to the United Kingdom; Paulsen subsequently arrived in London in July 2026.
Political affiliation
Fuentes joined Social Convergence in 2019 and was identified as a member of the party when she was appointed undersecretary in 2022. Social Convergence subsequently became part of the unified Broad Front in 2024. In 2026, contemporary Chilean reporting identified Fuentes as associated with the Broad Front while she was serving as ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Personal life
Fuentes is married to lawyer and academic Fernando Atria, whom she met while studying at the University of Chile. They married in 1993 and have three children.
Awards and honors
- White & Case Distinguished Jessup Alumni Award (2026)
Selected publications
- Fuentes Torrijo, Ximena; Pérez Farías, Diego (2018). "El efecto directo del derecho internacional en el derecho chileno". Revista de Derecho (Coquimbo) 25 (2): 119–156.
- Fuentes Torrijo, Ximena (2015). "Proportionality Analysis and Disproportionate Damages: Occidental Petroleum Corporation and Occidental Exploration and Production Company v. The Republic of Ecuador". The Journal of World Investment & Trade 16 (2): 315–324.
- Fuentes Torrijo, Ximena; Durney, Mariana (2016). "Construction of a road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua v. Costa Rica, 2011) and Certain Activities Carried Out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua, 2010)", in Latin America and the International Court of Justice: Contributions to International Law.