Alejandro Álvarez is considered one of the most renowned international lawyers in Latin America in the 20th century [4] He qualified as a lawyer at the University of Chile in1892 and later received his doctorate from the University of Paris Álvarez was a member of the Institut de Droit international from 1913, of the Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas of Spain from 1922 and of the Institut de France from 1923 In addition, he was an honorary member of the International Law Association and the Pan-European Union from 1929.
In 1959, he was appointed ambassador for life in recognition of his services to his home country.
In the city of Ovalle in the Chilean region of Coquimbo, a school has borne his name since 1960.
From 1946 to 1955 he was the only Chilean to serve as a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
As a jurist specializing in international law with wide experience as a judge he became appalled at the injustice arising from the cold war and colonization by the then two emergent superpowers that held the world in thrall between the traditional American imperialism and the advance of Russian communism, especially the consequent extortion of less developed countries with valuable natural resources.