Maurizio Giuliano

Maurizio Giuliano (born 1975) is an Italian journalist, writer and traveller. In 2004, he was in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest person who has been to all the countries in the world.  In 2006/2007, he worked for the UN.

Education

Maurizio Giuliano was born on 24 February 1975 in Milan, Italy, with a lawyer as a father and a housewife as a mother.  He lived in Cuba, Chile, and Indonesia, among other countries.  As of 2004, he knew eight languages according to one source, while another source specified that he "spoke" five and had a "passion" for two more.

He went to school in Milan and Manchester, and then studied at the University of Oxford in 1996 and the University of Cambridge in 1997. At Oxford, he studied at University CollegeUniversity College Newsletter , Trinity 2004 to know about Oxford's inter-disciplinary course in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE), especially Latin America and eastern Europe.

As of 1998, he was a research fellow at the Centre for Social Studies (CESOC) in Santiago, Chile.

Writings
Study on Cuba
He wrote two books and some articles on Cuban politics, especially on the US embargo (which usually stops Americans from doing business with Cubans), which he thinks (in the book "La Transición Cubana y el "Bloqueo" Norteamericano" and other works) is not good.

In an article published in the British academic journal Democratization in 1998, he focused in particular on how the US embargo against Cuba helps create "empathy" by third parties towards Cuba, so that Cubans think it is support for Cuba's government.  So he argued that the US Government – in addition to the embargo's direct influence on supporting Cuba's regime – indirectly interferes with the possibility of improving Cuba. That is because third countries, foreign non-governmental organizations and prominent individuals lend support to Cuba's resistance to the US embargo, and this offsets external pressures for democracy, thereby allowing the Cuban regime to convert such "empathy" into a source of legitimacy at home.Maurizio Giuliano, The United States' embargo and Cuba's foreign relations: missed opportunities for democratization (abstract), Democratization, Vol. 5, Issue 3, Autumn 1998

His scholarly work on internal Cuban politics, notably on the 1996 purge of Havana's Centre for American Studies (CEA) (contained in the book "El Caso CEA" published in 1998), has been the object of academic reviews, as it exposed the internal conflicts between Cuba's political apparatus and the country's intelligentsia (most intelligent people), previously unknown. Pablo Alfonso, Cuba hizo purga contra académicos , El Nuevo Herald, May 8, 1998 Alejandro Lorenzo, Presentan obra de purga académica, El Nuevo Herald, 27 May 1998Joel Edelstein (University of Colorado), The Centro de Estudios sobre América: An Account of a Regrettable Loss (review of El Caso CEA), Latin American Perspectives, Issue 125, Vol. 29, No. 4, July 2002, page 80
According to some reviews, the book, a work of investigative journalism helped by academic analysis, dealt a strong blow to hard-liners within the regime, Carlos Ruíz, Cabellero reincide , Venezuela Analítica, 06 August 2001
by exposing for the first time the internal conflicts between Cuba's apparatus and its intelligentsia.Peter Johnson (Princeton University), Review of ¿ Intelectuales vs. Revolución ?  El caso del Centro de Estudios sobre América, Johns Hopkins University, 2001
In 2001, Cuban exiled scholars Alberto Álvarez and Gerardo González, who were among those purged from the CEA, wrote the book "¿ Intelectuales vs. Revolución ?  El caso del Centro de Estudios sobre América", which strongly built upon Giuliano's book to offer further insights on relations between Cuba's political apparatus and the country's intellectuals.

Journalism
Besides work on Cuba, other countries Giuliano covered in his journalistic work include East Timor Maurizio Giuliano, Timor Est, dove nessuno ride , Popoli, May 1999 and Myanmar (formerly known as Burma).Journalist detained in Burma, photographs of Aung san Suu Kyi confiscated , IFEX, August 2000Myanmar deports French and Italian journalists, Asian Political News, 24 August 1998Burma expels Italian reporter for "illegal reporting", TV Myanmar, 18 August 1998

In 2000, he visited North Korea and published an essay about his visit, essentially describing his tour around the country as being like a movie made by the North Korean authorities.North Korea Under the Shroud , Life and Human Rights in North Korea, Autumn 2000, Vol. 17, page 3

In his journalistic work, he reportedly ran into problems with the authorities of at least two countries.  In 1998, he was denied entry to Myanmar after making contact with the National League for Democracy and taking photos of its leader Aung San Suu Kyi.  And on 30 October 2002, he was reportedly detained and manhandled by Israeli authorities while crossing the Allenby Bridge.Six journalists arrested , Annual Report 2002, Reporters sans Frontières, 2002

Giuliano's writings have also included lighter topics.  During his time in Kabul, for example, he wrote restaurant reviews for a local English-language magazine.
Introduction , Afghan Scene (magazine), Issue 11, May 2005, page 3

Political advocacy
In the early 2000s, Giuliano was a consultant for the Italian Senate's Committee on Human Rights.University College Record 2003, University College, Oxford, 2003  At that time, at least some of his writings were also intended to influence the positions of the Italian Government on certain human rights issues, as was the case with material that he wrote on North Korea.Activity Report , Life and Human Rights in North Korea, Spring 2000, Vol. 15, page 46

Development career
In 2004, Giuliano worked for the International Organization for Migration in the elections for Afghan refugees in Pakistan,Pakistan: IOM busy with Afghan voter education campaign, IRIN, 29 September 2004Afghanistan - Pakistan: Insecurity hampered voter registration in North and South Waziristan, IRIN, 7 October 2004Registration of Afghan voters completed, Dawn, 5 October 2004
and in 2005 worked in Afghanistan for the United Nations Development Programme.Attorney-General's Office one step closer to delivering justice for narcotics-related crime  (press release), UNDP, 14 May 2005Afghan Law Students Score High in Washington DC  (press release), UNDP, 4 April 2005
In both cases, he was working in the field of communications with the media.

Between 2006 and 2008, he served with the United Nations, again in the field of media relations, in the Central African Republic,Central African Republic: Humanitarian Crisis Continues, Funding Remains Low (press release), United Nations, 10 February 2006CAR: Donor conference begins in Cameroon, IRIN, 20 February 2006Plea for Humanitarian Aid in Northern CAR, Angola Press, 22 February 2006 Modeste J. Poubalandji, Diner d'exchange en prélude de la fête de Noël , Le Confident, 19 December 2005
Sudan,Jeffrey Gettleman, Chaos in Darfur Rises as Arabs Fight With Arabs, New York Times, 3 September 2007Opheera McDoom,
Sudan surrounds, attacks volatile Darfur camp - witness, Reuters, 22 August 2007Opheera McDoom, Armed men attack police in Darfur refugee camp, Reuters, 20 August 2007Alistair Thomson, Deadly floods, disease afflict Africa's arid Sahel, Reuters, 15 August 2007Opheera McDoom, Former Darfur rebels say Khartoum arming militia , Reuters, 16 August 2007
Chad,Craig Timberg, Chadian Rebels Urge Cease-Fire As Push Falters, The Washington Post, 6 February 2008 Massimo Alberizzi, Yamena, la capital fantasma de un Chad arrasado por el terror, El Mundo (Spain), 11 February 2008
and Cameroon following the refugee crisis caused by the battle of N'Djamena of February 2008.Craig Timberg, "Aid Groups Work to Avert Disaster Among Chadians in Cameroon", The Washington Post, 8 February 2008
Sarah Simpson, Chadian refugees head home after failed rebel coup, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 February 2008 R.M., Maurizio Giuliano: "Une trés bonne réponse de la communauté internationale", Cameroon Tribune, 18 February 2008 Les refugiés de N'djaména craignent toujours de rentrer chez eux , Cameroon-One, 15 February 2008

Travel
According to the Guinness Book, through his work, he had travelled to every single sovereign country in the world (which totalled 193 according to the Guinness Book) by 20 February 2004, aged 28 years and 361 days.Guinness Book of World Records 2006, Guinness World Records, 2006, page 126 on the UK edition (NB: it can be noted that while the Guinness Book refers to 193 countries, Giuliano has elsewhere spoken about 192)  He claimed that he had visited a total of up to 238 territories (including the 193 sovereign countries recognized by Guinness),Author unknown, European sets world travel record, ABC Online, February 27 2004 (NB: The article mistakenly states that Giuliano was 23 at the time, while he was 28 as reflected in the Guinness Book) and stated that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) had been the hardest country to get into, after numerous attempts and long waits to get a visa.

He started travelling at age 14, and believes that, as of 2004, he had travelled at least two million miles, including on the Trans-Siberian Railway and through 11 round-the-world air journeys.  Some of his earliest journeys were to Albania and Sierra Leone in 1991, aged 16, and to Mongolia in 1992 for their national festivities Naadam.  Most of his later travels were related to his journalistic work.Maurizio Giuliano, The Stamp Collector, Journalist (British magazine), April 2004

On 20 February 2004 he visited Suriname, thereby completing his visit to all sovereign nations of the world.  He held a press conference there on 24 February, where he stated that he had chosen Suriname to complete his record, as the country had always fascinated him due to its richness and variety in cultures and ethnicities. Nancy de Randamie, Brits-Italiaan behaalt reisrecord in Suriname, De Ware Tijd, 25 February 2004 Jongste Wereldreiziger Vestigde Record in Suriname , Dagblad Suriname, 24 February 2004
He then travelled from Suriname to London, with 42 passports (of which 30 were Italian and 12 British) filled with immigration stamps, in order to prove his record to Guinness World Records.

He claimed that most of his travels were unrelated to the record, and that only since 2001, on the suggestion of friends, did he have the Guinness Record in mind when planning his travels. Simona Ravizza, A 29 anni come Marco Polo: ho visitato i 192 paesi del mondo, Corriere della Sera, 14 March 2004 (NB: The photos and captions referred to in the text are available on the paper version but not the online version)  In explaining his record, however, he stated that he might have an "addiction to crossing borders".

 Bibliography 
  with foreword by José Antonio Viera-Gallo Quesney, La Transición Cubana y el 'Bloqueo' Norteamericano, Ediciones CESOC; 1st edition (May 1997), .
  El Caso CEA: Intelectuales e Inquisidores en Cuba, Ediciones Universal; 2nd edition (November 1998), .

 References 

Category:1975 births
Category:Living people
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford
Category:Italian journalists