Leopoldo Benites (17 October 1905 – 1 January 1996) was the 28th President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1973. He had been the permanent representative of Ecuador since October 1960.

Leopoldo Benites Vinueza was born in Guayaquil in Ecuador on 17 October 1905. His father was a physician. He attended university in his home town where he obtained a degree in social and political science. Benites married aged 20 to Margot Sierra. He was a diplomat who served as the Ecuadorean ambassador to a number of countries. Benites served as a Professor and earned an honorary doctorate from the University of Montevideo in Uruguay. He worked as a journalist, a role in which he later said he was against dictatorship. In the 1930s he spent eight months in jail. Whilst in jail—an experience he described as "interesting"—he wrote a biography of Francisco de Orellana.

Benites was Ecuador's ambassador to Uruguay from 1947 to 1952. In 1954 he took on a similar role in Bolivia until 1956 when he spent a brief period as ambassador to Argentina. At the end of 1956 he took up the role of ambassador to Uruguay to August 1960. He then became the Permanent representative at the United Nations.

Domenico Modugno (9 January 1928 – 6 August 1994) was an Italian singer, songwriter, actor, and later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)". He is considered the first Italian cantautore.

Modugno was born in Polignano a Mare, province of Bari (Puglia).

From a young age he wanted to become an actor and in 1951, after his military service, he enrolled in an acting school. While still studying he had a role in a cinematographic version of Filumena Marturano by Eduardo De Filippo as well as some other films.

In 1935 his father moved to San Pietro Vernotico, in the Province of Brindisi (where his parents are buried). Here Domenico attended primary school and learned San Piertro Vernotico's dialect, which belongs to the linguistic area of Lecce's dialect, which is similar to Sicilian. He attended secondary school in Lecce.

In 1957 his song "Lazzarella," sung by Aurelio Fierro, came second in the Festival della Canzone Napoletana, bringing him his first taste of popularity.