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Álvaro Colom Caballeros (born 15 June 1951 in Guatemala City) is the President of Guatemala for the 2008-2012 term. He is the leader of the social-democratic National Union of Hope (UNE).
[edit] Early yearsColom is the son of Antonio Colom Argueta and Yolanda Caballeros Ferraté, being the fourth of five siblings. Manuel Colom, a former mayor of Guatemala City who was killed by the military in 1979 just after the creation of his political party was approved, was his paternal uncle. He is also the father of Antonio Colom Szarata, the bass player of Guatemalan pop rock band Viento en Contra. Previously widowed and divorced, he is now married to his third wife, Sandra Torres. After gaining a degree as an industrial engineer at the University of San Carlos (USAC) he became a businessman involved in a variety of businesses, and a government civil servant, including being the founding General Director of the Fondo Nacional para la Paz and Vice Minister of the Economy before turning to politics. Representing the UNE (Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza) in the 2003 presidential elections he came second in the first round on 9 November, and then lost to Óscar Berger in the second round on 28 December, with the best showing of a left-wing candidate in almost 50 years. [edit] 2007 electionMain article: Guatemalan general election, 2007 He was one of the two candidates to reach the second stage of the 2007 presidential election on 9 September 2007 along with Partido Patriota candidate Otto Pérez Molina. At 10:00 p.m. local time on election night, Colom was declared the newly elected president by over five percentage points, 52.7% to 47.3%, with over 96% of polling places counted, [1] becoming Guatemala's first left-leaning president in 53 years. Colom has said that he wants to reduce crime by tackling poverty[2] in Guatemala. [edit] Rodrigo RosenbergOn 10 May 2009, Rodrigo Rosenberg, a Guatemalan lawyer father of four, was assassinated. A videotape recorded by Rosenberg days before his death claims that Colom and other high officials are directly responsible for his assassination.[3] The president claimed that the video was false in an interview with CNN en Español.[4] The Guatemala newspaper Prensa Libre said that the videotape "has created the greatest political crisis for this democracy, because never before has a democratically elected president been accused of murder."[5] On 12 May 2009, thousands of people protested and demanded justice outside the Presidential House.[6]On 13 May 2009, protestors turned in a petition with 35,000 signatures. The petition to the congress of Guatemala has the goal to remove Colom's invulnerability to prosecution.[7] [edit] References
[edit] External links
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