President of Guatemala from 1991 to 1993
In this
Spanish name
, the first or paternal
surname
is
Serrano
and the second or maternal family name is
Elias
.
Jorge Antonio Serrano Elias
(born April 26, 1945) is a Guatemalan
industrial engineer
and politician who served as the 41st
president of Guatemala
from January 14, 1991 to June 1, 1993.
Life and career
[
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]
Serrano was born on 26 April 1945 in
Guatemala City
as the son of Jorge Adan Serrano and Rosa Elias, who was of
Lebanese
descent. After attending school in
Switzerland
he graduated from the
University of San Carlos
with a degree in
industrial engineering
. Then, attended
Stanford University
in
California
,
U.S.
, where he studied
economic
growth and gained a
doctorate
in
education
and
science
. He then returned to Guatemala to become a
civil servant
. In 1976, he collaborated with various
American
Protestant
churches
to help the population recover from the
devastating earthquake
that had afflicted the country. He then published a document describing the wretched conditions under which the
indigenous
people lived, which resulted in him receiving threats. He went into exile in the U.S., only returning in 1982 to work in the government of fellow
evangelical
General
Efrain Rios Montt
as Vice President of the Advisory Board to the government.
[1]
In 1985, Serrano stood as presidential candidate for the
Democratic Party of National Co-operation
(PDCN) and the Revolutionary Party (PR), coming third with 12.6% of the vote. In September 1987, as the political party's representative, he became one of the four members of the National Reconciliation Commission (CNR).
President (1991-1993)
[
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Serrano became the presidential candidate for the
Solidarity Action Movement
(MAS) in the 1990 presidential elections. He lost the first round on November 11 with 24.1% of the vote but won the second round against
Jorge Carpio
on January 6, 1991 with 68.1%. Carpio unsuccessfully tried to use Serrano's fundamentalist beliefs against him as a campaign issue.
On January 14, Serrano replaced
Vinicio Cerezo
as
President of Guatemala
. He was the second non-
Catholic
to gain power in Guatemala after Rios Montt. The transfer of power marked the first time in decades that an incumbent president had peacefully surrendered power to an elected opposition victor. As his party gained only 18 of 116 seats in Congress, Serrano entered into a tenuous alliance with the Christian Democrats and Carpio's National Union of the Center (UCN).
[2]
The Serrano administration's record was mixed. It succeeded in consolidating
civilian control
over the army, replacing several senior officers, and persuading the military to participate in peace talks with the URNG. He took the politically unpopular step of recognizing the sovereignty of
Belize
. The Serrano administration reversed the economic slide it inherited, reducing inflation and boosting real growth.
[3]
On May 25, 1993, Serrano sparked the
1993 Guatemalan constitutional crisis
when he illegally suspended the
constitution
, dissolved
Congress
and the
Supreme Court
, imposed
censorship
, and tried to restrict civil freedoms, allegedly to fight corruption. The attempted
self-coup
was similar to the one
Peru's
Alberto Fujimori
carried out
. However, Serrano's action met with strong protests by most elements of Guatemalan society, at the forefront of which was the
Siglo Veintiuno
newspaper under the leadership of
Jose Ruben Zamora
. This was combined with international pressure and the army's enforcement of the decisions of the
Constitutional Court
, which ruled against the attempted takeover. In the face of this pressure, Serrano resigned as president on June 1 and fled the country. He was replaced on an interim basis by his vice president,
Gustavo Adolfo Espina Salguero
. However, Espina was also involved in Serrano's self-coup, and Congress replaced him with Human Rights Ombudsman
Ramiro de Leon Carpio
.
Post-presidency
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Serrano now resides in
Panama
with his wife, Magda Bianchi de Serrano. He has a set of twin sons, a son named Juan Pablo Serrano, and two daughters. He has three sisters, one of whom is Olga Stella Serrano de Salazar, who resides in
Guatemala City
with her husband, Rafael Salazar Farfan. The Guatemalan government has made numerous unsuccessful attempts to have him
extradited
on corruption charges. Jorge Serrano is involved in real estate as a developer and investor in Panama and the
U.S.
state of
Florida
.
References
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External links
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