Oreste Del Rio

His Excellency Oreste Del Rio Sandoval is a Panamanian diplomat, lawyer, writer and businessman. His varied professional path has included diplomacy, international law, business leadership and consultancy, shaped by discipline and the lessons of both setback and success.

He was born on 13 January 1982 in La Chorrera, Panama. Following his parents' separation, he spent his childhood with his grandparents. His paternal grandmother surrounded him with affection and care, while both grandparents were determined to give him the best education available. From them he learned humility, wisdom, order, discipline, responsibility and solidarity with others—qualities that later helped him adapt, succeed and respect cultural difference.

After completing a master's degree, he pursued a deeper understanding of diplomacy at institutions in several countries. He studied at Miguel de Cervantes University in Chile, Fu Hsing Kang in Taiwan and the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States.

His career advanced rapidly while he was still young. In Panama, he served as Director-General of Foreign Policy and Director-General of International Economic Relations. In 2015, he was appointed Deputy Head of Mission at Panama's embassy in the United Arab Emirates, an assignment that introduced him to diplomacy and to a culture very different from his own. After a year rich in professional and personal experience, he became Chargé d'Affaires at Panama's embassy in Qatar. Shortly afterwards, former Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela appointed him Ambassador of Panama to Qatar.

He regards his move to the Middle East as one of the best decisions of his life. Living within a new culture broadened his outlook and contributed to both his professional and personal development.

In Doha, he met the woman who shared his principles, ambitions and hopes for the future. The couple chose to begin their married life in the country that had welcomed them and held their wedding in Doha on 28 April 2019. Their friend His Excellency Eduardo Fonseca, a former Panamanian ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, joined the private ceremony; family and friends from Qatar and abroad celebrated with them afterwards. The couple's decision to marry according to Qatari customs and in traditional Qatari dress drew considerable attention from the local press.

Del Rio treats difficulties as challenges through which new experience can open wider possibilities. His first obstacle was an under-resourced public education, which restricted opportunities and left him unable to express himself in a language other than Spanish. He challenged that limitation and, following a professional opportunity, achieved fluency in English at the age of thirty-four.

The loss of the grandmother who had raised him was among the greatest challenges of his life. She had taught him much of what he knew, yet he came to understand death as an inescapable part of life: ‘We belong to God, and to Him we return.’

His career was not a succession of victories. He made mistakes and saw several decisions fail, but treated each experience as part of his development. Failure became an invaluable exercise in reflection, judgement, communication and careful engagement with the world around him; what he learned made later difficulties easier to manage.

Hard work, knowledge and professional experience made his family and friends proud. He continued to learn from other cultures and share that knowledge through his books, while friendships formed across those experiences became a second family. Through Fundacion ODRS, he has also supported work protecting children and adolescents at social risk.