The consul's life: personal growth enhances Peru's image by Jim Kem.ghan To many of us, the world of international diplomacy seems rarefied, or at least removed from our ordinary experience. It may seem an arena of power and decorum, where an ill-advised remark or a dropped teacup mtght have devastating personal or even global effects. And one might well imagine that those involved in such a society are trained for their roles virtually from birth. Portland's Peruvian Consul, Oscar A. Flores Fiol (77), provtdes a resoonding refutation of such notions. A solidly-bum, dark. and ruggedly handsome man, Aares FIOI certainly looks the part, but" would be diflicU~ to find a less pretentious man in the Consular Corps. Oscar has devoted his life to seeing things from as many different perspectives as possible - not in a studied or self-conscious way, but out of sheer interest in the world about him. SiUing restlessly in his office surrounded by his own oil paintings and a rack of suits for every occasion, Flores Fiol is brimming with kleas, plans, experiences. But he is a man of few contradictions, seeing no distinction between his inner development and the outer life he has chosen. "In a very real way I have to sell myself in order to sell my country. The better and more accomplished I am as a human being, the more I do for Peru and her people." Oscar Flores Fiol grew up in the Peruvian forests in a home fashioned of packed and hardened earth ("You can't get any more organic than that," he remarks wryly). He is the product of two very strong personalities: his mother owned and operated large tracts of land in Peru, while his father was an accomplished military officer who aJso represented Peru in fencing in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Oscar himself studted engineering at the Peruvian MiI"ary Academy (withdrawing because he thought himself poorty suited to the "pyramidal approach 10 life In Ihe military"), and he has held a long series of jobs in the construction field and the service industry in this coonlry. He has been a timber buyer 6 and a trader on an international scale, and was last a IUl"fJber systems consultant until the drop in world markets and tensions in the South American jungles dictated a change. In short, Flores Fiol's only real requirement of life is that it must be interesting. It was while he was on one of his visits to the U.S. as an officer with the merchant marines, "driving around learning the language," that he made his decision to live in the U.S. Unimpressed with both Houston and Los Angeles, Flores Fiol chanced to be changing a tire on the docks in Portland and was so surprised by the friendly attempts to help him in his minor plight that he decided to take a longer look at this city. This was ultimately to lead to his enrollment at Portland State. Just as his life experience has been broad, Oscar's educational interests have also been eclectic. Over a period of years at PSU he has taken classes In many fields and has been dellghled with a syslem that allows, even encourages, interdisciplinary study. By the time he finally took his bachelor's degree in art, he had almost as many crQdils in business administration and Spanish studies. "It was a difficult thing for me to concentrate in one field," he admits with a small laugh, "but then I've never been able 10 impose arbitrary limits upon myself." A major advantage of being appointed Peruvian Consul is that his country appreciates his breadth and allows him to pursue his own personal projects. Since coming to the Consultate in 1971 as Vice-Consul and even after his appointment in 1980 to his current post as Consul, Flores Fiol has simultaneously been engaged in diplomacy and in the intemational lumber trade. But the present situation both in and out of the huge forests of South America have persuaded him to spend more time in this country. And this is an acceptable proposition, for his personal life in Oregon is becoming more and more demanding and Important. Oscar, his American wife Lynn and their nine year-old daughter Sylvia live on a sixteen-acre farm in Eagle Creek where they raise sheep. This beautiful plot of partially wooded and rolling hills has become the center of their lives. Lynn has become a fine weaver producing wall hangings and other pieces from the wool of their own animals. They also have pottery wheels, a kiln, a room that doubles as a study and painting studio for Oscar. and what has been called one of the finest prtvate collections of pre-Columbian art on the West Coast. It is their dream to make the acreage totally self-sufficient. lynn is the carpenter and has done much of the remodeling of the main house, and Oscar has begun to take classes at Clackamas Community College to learn all he can about raising crops and animals. Oscar's intention is to "work the land as it has been worked in the past - only to do it more efficiently. " While Oscar increases productivity on his farm. he will also be working continually on his intemallandscape. His short-range goal is to finish an MA in Spanish studies and literature al PSU, evenlually applying to the Untversity of Oregon for candidacy to the Ph.D. program in Romance languages. Flores Fiol feels his diverse interests are quite compatible with his role as Peruvian Consul. "The emphasis now, at least among Latin American diplomatic appointees, is upon commitment to many fields - parttcularly business and art," he explains. "Often you will find people in the diplomatic corps of various countries being sent to latin America without the slightest interest in the essence of the area, without any knowledge of who the people are as they represent themselves through their art. "Peru and other South American countries realize the importance of international business relations - it would be difficult to ignore that aspect - bul they also address Ihe other dimension, the artistic efforts, in order to promote the cultural understanding between countries. "It is really this cultural Interaction that serves as the basis of all else in the field of diplomacy and wand harmony." Jim KemIIghan is a freelt1f1C8 writer and a p81t. dm6 student at PorlIand State.
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