Vinicio Cerezo
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Vinicio Cerezo | |
---|---|
Óscar Humberto Mejía | |
Succeeded by | Jorge Serrano Elías |
General Secretary of Central American Integration System | |
In office June 29, 2017 – June 29, 2021 | |
Preceded by | Victoria Marina Velásquez |
Succeeded by | Werner Vargas Torres |
Personal details | |
Born | Guatemalan Christian Democrats | December 26, 1942
Spouse | |
Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo (born December 26, 1942) is a Guatemalan politician who served as the 40th president of Guatemala from 1986 to 1991. He also served as the Secretary General of the Central American Integration System (SICA) from 2017 to 2021.
Career
Cerezo was born in
In 1974, the DCG formed part of the coalition that backed General
In 1978 General,
President (1986-1991)
In the first round of the
The response was a new wave of terror, with many extrajudicial killings being committed by Guatemalan security forces. This battle against the forces of terror operating in the country was to be the dominant theme of his rule. According to
On 11 September 1987, he established the National Commission for Reconciliation (CNR), and on 7 October, negotiations between the URNG and the government began. When they failed two days later, with the government refusing to accept the URNG's terms, Cerezo asked the
1989 saw a worsening of the political situation, with 1,600 assassinations and 800 kidnappings or disappearances in the first half of the year. These were attributed to the political violence and the covert war between suspected extrajudicial right-wing forces and the URNG. On 9 May, another attempted coup failed, and though the perpetrators were sentenced to long terms in jail that November, they were released on appeal the following January. On 1 August, DCG Secretary General Danilo Barillas was assassinated. However, on 25 August, Cerezo returned with a new promise to renovate the public administration by consolidating democracy within the 500 days he had left as president. Guatemala has remained a democracy ever since.
In May 1990, the Cerezo administration and the URNG signed an important agreement in Madrid that promised not to disturb the forthcoming elections. With this success behind him, Cerezo felt able to give a positive recapitulation of his presidency. He handed power over to his successor,
That same year, as part of a thaw in
Then, on 1 December, a troop of soldiers massacred 24
Post-presidency
In 1991, Cerezo became a deputy in the Central American Parliament in its first five-year term. He was accused of hiding behind the immunity conferred here and in his role as an ex-president to avoid a variety of charges, including fraud in the buying of a Jordanian island, the covering up of the murder of Myrna Mack Chang, and the concession of a large piece of land to a conservation group owned by Cerezo's son Marco Vinicio Cerezo Blandón.
In the 1999 elections, the unique for which the DCG did not offer a presidential candidate, Cerezo won one of the two National Congress seats gained by his party. He was re-elected to Congress for the 2004-08 period in the November 2003 election, this time as the DCG's sole deputy.
In the 2007 general election, Cerezo lost his seat in Congress and his party gained no seats. His son, also named Vinicio Cerezo, ran for president but received less than 1% of the vote.
Vinicio Cerezo is currently building an NGO (nongovernmental organization) named Esquipulas after Esquipulas Procedure for a firm and lasting peace and a new Esquipulas conference called Esquipulas III (to follow the previous Esquipulas I and II) to further the integration of Central America, directed by Olinda Salguero. He also is a political consultant.
His appointment as Secretary-General of the Central America Integration System (SICA) was announced on 29 June 2017 during the 49th gathering in San Jose, Costa Rica. He was named Peace Ambassador by the Guatemala Government on 7 August 2017, on the anniversary of the Esquipulas II agreements.
References
- San Jose Mercury News. 10 January 1986. Retrieved 19 June 2012.