Álvaro Arzú

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Arzú and the second or maternal family name is Yrigoyen.

Álvaro Arzú
32nd President of Guatemala
In office 14 January 1996 – 14 January 2000
Preceded by	Ramiro de León
Succeeded by	Alfonso Portillo
Personal details
Born	14 March 1946 (1946-03-14) (age 65) Guatemala City
Political party	National Advancement Party / Unionist Party

Álvaro Enrique Arzú Yrigoyen (born March 14, 1946, in Guatemala City) was the 32nd President of Guatemala from January 14, 1996 until January 14, 2000. He has been elected Mayor of Guatemala City on five occasions: in 1982, but was prevented from assuming office because of a coup d'état; in 1986, this time assuming and serving his mandate; again in January 2004; and he was re-elected for a third effective term in September 2007 with 55 percent of the popular vote.^[1] Arzú was re-elected in September 2011 for a third consecutive term as mayor of the capital, which will commence in January 2012. ^[2]

Career

Arzú studied Social and Legal Sciences from Rafael Landívar University. In 1978 he became the Director of the Guatemalan Tourist Institute (INGUAT) until in 1981 he was elected Mayor of Guatemala City for the Guatemalan Christian Democracy (DCG) party. When in March 1982 General Efraín Ríos Montt took power in a coup he annulled the election results. The government offered him another job working for the municipality (of Guatemala City), but he refused it. In 1986 he became Mayor under the umbrella of the Civic Committee Plan for National Advancement in a national elections that saw the DGC sweep to power, with Vinicio Cerezo becoming President.

In 1989 the Civic Committee Plan became a formal political party called the National Advancement Party (PAN), and in 1990 he was their presidential candidate, coming in fourth place with 17.3 percent of the vote. The winner, Jorge Serrano, made Arzú his foreign minister, but he then resigned on September 21 in protest against Serrano's decision to normalize relations with Belize, over most of whose territory Guatemala has long standing claims. On October 13 he became PAN's General Secretary, a position from which he resigned on June 25, 1995 in order to concentrate on being PAN's candidate in the November presidential elections.

After the presidential term, Arzu has been mayor for Guatemala's Capital City for three four-year terms in a row.

Arzu is also a member of the Club of Madrid.^[3]

President

He won the first round in November, and then narrowly beat Alfonso Portillo of the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG, Frente Republicano Guatemalteco) in the second round in January 1996, gaining 51.2 percent of the vote. PAN gained a slim majority with 43 out of 80 of the National Congress seats. The main achievement of his presidency was to sign an agreement with the guerrilla group the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity, that ended Guatemala's 36-year-long Civil War. His promise to do this had been a pivotal part of his electoral campaign. There had been six years of negotiations since the Oslo Agreement of March 1990, and Arzú gave them a vital new impulse when he personally met the URNG in Mexico on February 26, 1996. A ceasefire followed on March 20. Various peace agreements were signed as the year progressed until in December when a number of agreements were signed in Oslo. On December 12 an accord legalizing the URNG was signed in Madrid. On December 18 Congress passed a law giving a partial amnesty to the combatants, before the final accord for a firm and lasting peace was signed on December 29.

On April 26, 1998 the assistant Archbishop to Guatemala City Juan José Gerardi was murdered, two days after publishing a report on the suspected involvement of the military in past atrocities. Arzú declared three days of national mourning, and said it was a common and not a political crime. With suspicions that the President's own guard had been behind the murder, and amidst mounting national and international pressure, he formed a commission with his most trusted collaborators, and members of the church, to fully investigate the crime.

On October 16 Congress passed constitutional reform describing Guatemala as a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-lingual society. This was part of the peace agreements signed between the Government and the URNG. Yet in a referendum the following May the population (or at least the 18.6% that voted) rejected this proposition, which represented a blow for the government.

Family and personal

Arzú has three children from his first wife, Sylvia García Granados: Roberto, Diego and María. He has two children from his second wife, Patricia, to whom he is still married. He has six grandchildren.

Álvaro Arzú has also been Guatemala's national squash rackets champion on several occasions.

Awards

• 1996: UNESCO's Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize
• 1997: During his presidency, the government of Guatemala was awarded Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for International Co-operation.
• Monseñor Leonidas Proaño Human Rights Prize (ALDHU)
• 2005: Ranked third in the World Mayor contest.

Notes

1. ^ "Gana Álvaro Colom la primera vuelta de las presidenciales guatemaltecas," La Jornada.
2. ^ "Notificarán reelección del alcalde Álvaro Arzú," Emisoras Unidas.
3. ^ The Club of Madrid is an independent non-profit organization composed of 81 democratic former Presidents and Prime Ministers from 57 different countries. It constitutes the world´s largest forum of former Heads of State and Government, who have come together to respond to a growing demand for support among leaders in democratic leadership, governance, crisis and post-crisis situations. All lines of work share the common goal of building functional and inclusive societies, where the leadership experience of our Members is most valuable.

External links

• Biography and presidential tenure, by CIDOB Foundation
• Profile citymayors
• Arzú Alcalde 2007 mayoral campaign website

Political offices
Preceded by Ramiro de León	President of Guatemala 1996–2000	Succeeded by Alfonso Portillo

Persondata
Name	Arzu, Alvaro
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 14, 1946
Place of birth	Guatemala City
Date of death
Place of death