Álvaro Arzú Irigoyen
|
His Excellency Álvaro Arzú Yrigoyen |
|
|---|---|
Alvaro Arzú in February 2014
|
|
| Mayor of Guatemala City | |
|
Assumed office 14 January 2004 |
|
| Preceded by | Fritz García Gallont |
| 32nd President of Guatemala | |
|
In office 14 January 1996 – 14 January 2000 |
|
| Preceded by | Ramiro de León |
| Succeeded by | Alfonso Portillo |
| Mayor of Guatemala City | |
|
In office 14 January 1986 – 1990 |
|
| Preceded by |
José Angel Lee Arturo Saravia |
| Succeeded by |
Álvaro Heredia Óscar Berger |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
14 March 1946 Guatemala City |
| Political party | National Advancement Party / Unionist Party |
| Spouse(s) | Patricia Escobar de Arzú |
Álvaro Enrique Arzú Yrigoyen (born March 14, 1946) 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. Arzú was re-elected in September 2011 for a third consecutive term as mayor of the capital, which began in January 2012.
Born in Guatemala City, Arzú studied Social and Legal Sciences at 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.
...
Wikipedia