Alfonso Portillo

Alfonso Antonio Portillo Cabrera (born 24 September 1951) is a Guatemalan politician who served as President of Guatemala from 2000 to 2004.

He took office on 14 January 2000, representing the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG), the party led by retired general and former military ruler Efraín Ríos Montt.

Early life and career

Portillo was born in Zacapa. He obtained his academic qualifications in Mexico. He allegedly received a degree in social sciences from the Autonomous University of Guerrero (UAG) in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, and his doctorate from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. However, the veracity of such claims remains uncertain since no evidence has been provided to support them.^[1]

In the late 1970s he became involved with left-wing indigenous groups in Guerrero and with the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG). During the 1980s he lectured in political science at the university in Chilpancingo. During that time, Portillo shot and killed two students. He later claimed that he had shot the students in self-defense. His political opponents, however, asserted that he had killed the two unarmed students in a "bar brawl." He was never charged for the shootings, and in 1995, a Mexican judge declared the case "inactive." ^[2][3]

In 1989 Portillo returned to Guatemala and joined the Social Democratic Party, which had replaced the Authentic Revolutionary Party the previous year. The little-known PSD was one of the very few leftist parties that survived the military repression that had characterized the 1970s and 1980s. He then moved to the Guatemalan Christian Democrats (DCG), a center-right formation which at the time was the governing party. In 1992 he was appointed Director of the Guatemalan Institute of Social and Political Sciences (IGESP), a role he held till 1994. He became the DCG's Secretary General in 1993 and was elected as one of their deputies in 1994, and became head of their group in Congress. During this time he also became an editorial adviser to Siglo Veintiuno, one of the two largest-selling daily newspapers.

FRG

In April 1995 Portillo, along with another seven of the DCG's 13 deputies, left the party to become independents after the parliamentary group was accused of corruption. On 20 July 1995 he joined the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG). Its leader, Efraín Ríos Montt, was at the time leader of Congress. When Ríos Montt was constitutionally barred from running in the 12 November presidential election because he had previously taken power through a coup d'etat, the FRG chose Portillo as their candidate. After gaining 22% of the vote in the first round of voting, he lost to Álvaro Arzú in the second round on 7 January 1996. With both candidates promising to finalize the peace negotiations Portillo narrowly lost, garnering 48.7% of the vote.^[4]

Presidential aspirations

In July 1998 the FRG voted for him to be their presidential candidate the following year, having decided not to nominate Ríos Montt. Portillo launched a campaign in favor of bringing morality into political life, to implacably fight corruption, to defend the indigenous population and the poor campesinos against the small, urban, white elite. He also promised security in the face of the growing problem with delinquency during Arzú's tenure in the office. In contrast to 1995, the issue of the homicides in Mexico was brought up, and became a central electoral issue. Portillo immediately admitted that he had shot the two students, but claimed it was an act of self-defense. He said that he had fled from the Mexican authorities, rather than face trial, both because of his political affiliations, and because he was a foreigner in Mexico. These revelations enhanced Portillo's as a "tough, no-nonsense" politician. On 7 November he won the first round with 47.8% of the vote, and in the second round on 26 December he decisively beat Óscar Berger with 68.3% of the vote.

President

On the day of his investiture Portillo said that Guatemala was "on the edge of collapse", and promised a thorough government investigation into corruption. On 9 August 2000 he declared that the governments of the previous two decades had been involved in human rights abuses. While he showed determination to see through his regenerative and progressive programme, his government soon became overwhelmed by the reality of the political and mafia corruption in the country. During 2001 his government faced a continuous wave of protests that sapped the credibility of his government. The FRG was accused of bringing corruption on an unprecedented scale to the country. His government has been tainted by accusations of theft, money laundering, money transferring to the army, creation of bank accounts in Panama, Mexico, and the United States by many members of his staff, totalling more than US$1 billion.

In the first round of the November 2003 elections (see: Guatemala election, 2003), he backed former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt to succeed him. However, the FRG lost to Óscar Berger's GANA party, who was sworn in to replace Portillo on 14 January 2004.

2014 audit of 2001 shows illegal transfers from other departments to the military. audit

Post presidency

When his political immunity was revoked on February 19 2004, Portillo immediately fled to Mexico. On 16 August 2004, immigration authorities there granted him a year-long work visa. He then lived in Mexico City in an apartment in one of the city's most exclusive neighbourhoods. Portillo was accused of authorizing $15 million in transfers to the Guatemalan defense department, where authorities believe most of the money was stolen by his associates. After a long process, Mexico's foreign ministry approved Portillo's extradition back to Guatemala on 30 October 2006.^[5][6] His actual extradition did not occur until October 7, 2008.^[7]

According to reports in May 2007, Portillo sued Guatemala in the Central American Court of Justice, in Nicaragua, to be reinstated as a member of the Central American Parliament (and thus regain his immunity from prosecution).^[8]

In January 2010, reports stated that the U.S. government was looking for Portillo in relation to money laundering charges.^[9]

On January 26 2010, Portillo was apprehended by local authorities in Guatemala near Punta de Palma.

Portillo and his associates were absolved of all embezzlement charges on May 9, 2011 by a Guatemalan court that determined that prosecutors, Guatemala's Public Ministry, did not present sufficient evidence to convict the former president.^[10] The Public Ministry said they disagree with the court's decision and announced plans to appeal the ruling.

On August 26, 2011, the Constitutional Court ruled that he must be extradited to the United States.^[11] He would then be the first former Guatemalan President to stand prosecution in the United States.^[12] He was extradited to the United States on May 24, 2013 to face money laundering charges.^[13][14] He is accused of laundering US$70 million of Guatemalan money through US banks.^[15]

On March 18, 2014, former President Portillo pleaded guilty at a hearing before Federal Judge James Patterson and is awaiting sentence, which will be announced on June 23 according to sources from the Federal Prosecution Office of the Southern District of New York. Guatemala's former president, 62 years of age, could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine or twice the money involved in the illegal transactions.^[16]

On February 25, 2015 Portillo was released from prison in Denver, the US, and returned to Guatemala City.^[17][18]

References

External links

• Biography of Alfonso Portillo at CIDOB (Spanish)

Heads of state of Guatemala Federal Republic of Central America (1823–1839); Supreme Chiefs of State direct central rule, 1823–24 Díaz* Barrundia direct central rule, 1826–27 J. Estrada* de Aycinena Zenteno* Barrundia Molina Márquez* Gálvez Valenzuela* Rivera* Salazar* Rivera* Republic of Guatemala (since 1839); Presidents Rivera López Requena* Rivera Carrera Martínez* Escobar* Paredes* Carrera Aycinena* Cerna García Granados Barrios Sinibaldi* Barillas Reina M. Estrada† Herrera Orellana Chacón Reina* Ubico† Ponce Vaides* † Junta (Arana†, Árbenz†, Toriello) Arévalo Árbenz Díaz* Monzón† Castillo† González López* Mendoza† Flores* Ydígoras† Peralta† Méndez Arana† Laugerud† Lucas† Ríos Montt† Mejía Victores† Cerezo Serrano Elías Espina* de León Arzú Portillo Berger Colom Pérez Molina * interim; † military