Matthew Hedges (diplomat)

Matthew James Hedges is a British diplomat and civil servant, serving since September 2020 as the Westminster Foundation for Democracy's Regional Director for Asia and the Americas. Previously to this, he was most notably the British Ambassador to Paraguay (2017-2020), and the Deputy Head of Mission in the British embassy in Yangon, Myanmar. After joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1999, he has also worked in Tokyo, Rabat, New York, and at the House of Commons.[1]

Hedges received a Master in Public Policy – International Relations from Princeton University.[2]

Hedges became ambassador to Paraguay in 2017. In 2018, the then Paraguayan Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga said at a press conference that he called in Hedges to express discomfort over a tweet that Hedges had made after the Supreme Court of Paraguay overturned the conviction of 12 farmers in a case relating to the violent deaths of 6 police officers and 11 rural workers in 2012. Hedges had tweeted: "How beautiful is the smile of freedom," above a photograph of one of the freed men who is seen smiling and embracing a woman. Hedges told reporters that he was merely reacting to a 'human moment' shown by the photograph.[3]

In 2019, Hedges was received by the senior commanding officers of the Paraguayan Navy and exchanged presents with them.[4]

In 2020, Hedges left the Foreign Office to become Westminster Foundation for Democracy's Director of Asia and the Americas.[5]

References
  1. "British Ambassador to Paraguay-Matthew Hedges". gov.uk. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  2. "British Ambassador to Paraguay-Matthew Hedges". gov.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  3. Servin, Pedro. "Paraguay calls in UK envoy over tweet on freed peasants". startribute.com. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  4. "Visita Protocolar del Embajador de su Majestad Británica en la República del Paraguay DON MATTHEW HEDGES" (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  5. "Ex-UK Ambassador Matthew Hedges to be WFD's Regional Director for Asia and the Americas". wfd.org. Retrieved 3 November 2020.


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