Topic: Ricardo Alarcon

Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada (born May 21, 1937) is a Cuban politician who has been the President of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba (ANPP) since 1993. A graduate of the University of Havana with a doctorate in philosophy, he served in various diplomatic posts following the Cuban Revolution.

Alarcón was born in Havana. He entered the University of Havana in 1954 and became active in the Federation of University Students (FEU), serving as the secretary of culture for the FEU from 1955 to 1956. Alarcón would become active in Castro's 26th of July Movement, which was attempting to oust Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, in July 1955. Alarcón assisted in the organization of the student apparatus of the guerrilla organization's youth brigade. Alarcón would be elected vice president of the FEU in 1959 and would serve as president of the student organization from 1961 to 1962.

In 1962, the new Castro-led government appointed Alarcón director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Americas division, where he would begin his diplomatic career. Between 1966 and 1978 he served as Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, Vice President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, President of the Council of Administration to the United Nations Development Programme, and Vice-President of the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. In 1978 Alarcón was promoted to first vice-minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While serving as Permanent Representative to the UN for a second time, Alarcón was President of the Security Council in February 1990 and July 1991. In 1992 was made Minister of Foreign Affairs, and in February 1993 he became the President of the National Assembly.