Jorge Serrano Elías
Encyclopedia
Jorge Antonio Serrano Elías was President of Guatemala
from January 14, 1991 to May 31, 1993.
as the son of Jorge Adán Serrano and Rosa Elías. After attending school in Switzerland
he graduated in industrial
engineering
from the University of San Carlos
, and 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 miserable conditions under which the indigenous
population lived, which resulted in his receiving threats. He went into exile in the US, only returning in 1982, to work in the government of fellow evangelical
General Efraín Ríos Montt
as Vice President of the Advisory Board to the government.
In 1985 he 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 parties representative he became one of the four members of the National Reconciliation Commission (CNR).
On January 14, he replaced Vinicio Cerezo
as President of Guatemala
. He was the second non-Catholic to gain power in Latin America
, after Ríos 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).
The Serrano administration's record was mixed. It had some success in consolidating civilian control
over the army, replacing a number of 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.
On 25 May 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 carried out by Alberto Fujimori
. 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 José Rubén 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 1 June and fled the country. He was replaced on an interim basis by his vice president, Gustavo Espina. However, Espina was involved in the coup as well, and Congress replaced him with Human Rights Ombudsman Ramiro de León.
Serrano now resides in Panama
with his wife Magda Bianchi de Serrano. He has a set of twin sons and a son named Juan Pablo Serrano, as well as two daughters. He has three sisters, one of whom is Olga Stella Serrano de Salazar, who currently resides in Guatemala City
with her husband, Rafael Salazar Farfan. Guatemala has made numerous unsuccessful attempts to have him extradited
on charges of corruption.
President of Guatemala
The title of President of Guatemala has been the usual title of the leader of Guatemala since 1839, when that title was assumed by Mariano Rivera Paz...
from January 14, 1991 to May 31, 1993.
Career
Serrano was born April 26, 1945 in Guatemala CityGuatemala City
Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...
as the son of Jorge Adán Serrano and Rosa Elías. After attending school in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
he graduated in industrial
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
from the University of San Carlos
Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala
The Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala It is the biggest and oldest university of Guatemala, also it is the fourth founded in the Americas....
, and then attended Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he studied economic
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
growth and gained a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
. 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
1976 Guatemala earthquake
The 1976 Guatemala earthquake struck on February 4, 1976 at 03:01:43 local time . It was a 7.5 Mw earthquake, centered in the Motagua Fault, about 160 km northeast of Guatemala City, Guatemala...
that had afflicted the country. He then published a document describing the miserable conditions under which the indigenous
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
population lived, which resulted in his receiving threats. He went into exile in the US, only returning in 1982, to work in the government of fellow evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
General Efraín Ríos Montt
Efraín Ríos Montt
José Efraín Ríos Montt is a former de facto President of Guatemala, dictator, army general, and former president of Congress. In the 2003 presidential elections, he unsuccessfully ran as the candidate of the ruling Guatemalan Republican Front .Huehuetenango-born Ríos Montt remains one of the most...
as Vice President of the Advisory Board to the government.
In 1985 he 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 parties representative he became one of the four members of the National Reconciliation Commission (CNR).
President
He became the presidential candidate for the Solidarity Action Movement (MAS) in the 1990 presidential elections. He lost the first round on 11 November with 24.1% of the vote, and won the second round against Jorge Carpio on 6 January 1991 with 68.1% of the vote. Carpio unsuccessfully tried to use Serrano's fundamentalist beliefs against him as a campaign issue.On January 14, he replaced Vinicio Cerezo
Vinicio Cerezo
Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo is a Guatemalan politician. He served as President of Guatemala from 14 January 1986 to 14 January 1991 and currently sits in Congress.-Career:...
as President of Guatemala
President of Guatemala
The title of President of Guatemala has been the usual title of the leader of Guatemala since 1839, when that title was assumed by Mariano Rivera Paz...
. He was the second non-Catholic to gain power in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, after Ríos 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).
The Serrano administration's record was mixed. It had some success in consolidating civilian control
Civilian control of the military
Civilian control of the military is a doctrine in military and political science that places ultimate responsibility for a country's strategic decision-making in the hands of the civilian political leadership, rather than professional military officers. One author, paraphrasing Samuel P...
over the army, replacing a number of 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
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
. The Serrano administration reversed the economic slide it inherited, reducing inflation and boosting real growth.
On 25 May 1993, Serrano sparked the 1993 Guatemalan constitutional crisis
1993 Guatemalan constitutional crisis
The 1993 Guatemala constitutional crisis took place in 1993 when then President Jorge Serrano Elías attempted a self-coup or autogolpe. On 25 May 1993, Serrano illegally suspended the constitution, dissolved Congress and the Supreme Court, imposed censorship and tried to restrict civil freedom...
when he illegally suspended the constitution, dissolved Congress
Congress of Guatemala
The Congress of the Republic is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Guatemala.It comprises 158 deputies, who are elected by direct universal suffrage to serve four-year terms . Twenty-nine of these are elected from nationwide lists, with the rest on a district list basis...
and the Supreme Court, imposed censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
and tried to restrict civil freedoms, allegedly to fight corruption. The attempted self-coup
Self-coup
A self-coup or autocoup is a form of coup d'état that occurs when a country's leader, who has come to power through legal means, dissolves or renders powerless the national legislature and assumes extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances. Other measures taken may include...
was similar to the one carried out by Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori served as President of Peru from 28 July 1990 to 17 November 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with the creation of Fujimorism, uprooting terrorism in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability, though his methods have drawn charges of...
. However, Serrano's action met with strong protests by most elements of Guatemalan society, at the forefront of which was the Siglo Veintiuno
Siglo Veintiuno
Siglo Veintiuno is an important Guatemalan newspaper. It was founded in 1990 by José Rubén Zamora.-External links:*http://www.sigloxxi.com/...
newspaper under the leadership of José Rubén Zamora
José Rubén Zamora
José Rubén Zamora Marroquín is the founder of three of Guatemala's most important newspapers, Siglo Veintiuno in 1990; El Periódico in 1996 and Nuestro Diario in 1998. Although he has generated great controversy in his role as editor-in-chief of the newspapers, he continues to edit the latter...
. 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 1 June and fled the country. He was replaced on an interim basis by his vice president, Gustavo Espina. However, Espina was involved in the coup as well, and Congress replaced him with Human Rights Ombudsman Ramiro de León.
Serrano now resides in Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
with his wife Magda Bianchi de Serrano. He has a set of twin sons and a son named Juan Pablo Serrano, as well as two daughters. He has three sisters, one of whom is Olga Stella Serrano de Salazar, who currently resides in Guatemala City
Guatemala City
Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...
with her husband, Rafael Salazar Farfan. Guatemala has made numerous unsuccessful attempts to have him extradited
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
on charges of corruption.