José Maurício de Figueiredo Bustani (born June 5, 1945) is a Brazilian diplomat who was the first director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons until he was ousted after pressure from the US government in April 2002 over disagreements about how to address Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. Career Born in Porto Velho, Rondônia, he received his law degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in 1967, and attended the Rio Branco Institute in the same year, after which he joined the Brazilian Foreign Service. He was the ambassador of Brazil in several countries, including the United Kingdom, between 2003 and 2008, and France, from 2008 up to retiring in 2015. Director General of the OPCW Bustani was appointed the first director general of the OPCW in 1997. His four-year term was due to expire in 2001. However, he was unanimously reelected to this position one year early, in May 2000 for a term of four years. Removal from Office Soon after, Bustani fell out of favour with the U.S., who began to lobby aggressively for his removal, in a campaign orchestrated by U.S. official John Bolton. Finally, at Bolton's behest, a special meeting was held in The Hague on April 21, 2002. Following what are reputed to have been both secretive and tempestuous deliberations, a vote was held, with Bustani's removal being carried by a vote of 48–7, with 43 abstentions. This is thought to be the first time in history that the head of a major international organisation was removed during his or her term of office, and the most bitter public campaign by the United States to force a senior international official from office since the Clinton administration blocked the 1996 reelection of U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali. There is much controversy surrounding the reasons behind Bustani's removal. He had been negotiating with the Iraqi government, and was hoping to persuade them to sign up to the OPCW, thus granting OPCW inspectors full access to Iraq's purported "chemical weapons arsenal". If Bustani had succeeded, this would have placed an extremely uncomfortable obstacle in the path of the Bush administration's war plans, by removing their ostensible motive. While Bustani's supporters insist this was the reason why the US forced him out the Bush administration claimed that Bustani's position was no longer tenable, stating three main reasons: "polarizing and confrontational conduct",