Álvaro Colom

Infobox President
name = Álvaro Colom Caballeros

---

imagesize = 200px
order = President of Guatemala
term_start = 14 January 2008
term_end =
predecessor = Óscar Berger
successor =
birth_date = birth date and age|1951|06|15|df=y
birth_place = Guatemala, Guatemala
death_date =
death_place =
party = UNE
spouse = Sandra Torres
religion = Roman Catholic

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).

Early years

Colom is the son of Antonio Colom Argueta and Yolanda Caballeros Ferraté, being the fourth of five siblings. Manuel Colom Argueta, 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 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.

2007 election

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. Guatemala 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, [ [http://resultados2007.tse.org.gt/ NEOTEC, WebMail ] ] becoming Guatemala's first left-leaning president in 53 years.

Support for Colom by middle and upper classes supposedly dropped after he was accused of receiving money from state funds to finance a small part of his political campaign for the presidential election of 2003. The funds for which he was accused were actually a payment for a service that Fundación de Amigos del País, an NGO supportive of UNE, got from one of the government institutions and later donated the Q500,000 to UNE. Later the charges were dropped for lack of evidence against him. Colom has denied all charges and has claimed to be a victim of political persecution and also returned the money he received from Fundación de Amigos en Acción. Fact|date=September 2007

Colom has said that he wants to reduce crime by tackling poverty [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0361085520071105 Center-leftist beats general in Guatemala election | International | Reuters ] ] in Guatemala.

References

External links

* [http://www.alvarocolom.com/ Álvaro Colom Website]
* [http://www.une.org.gt Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza Website]
* [http://www.cidob.org/es/documentacion/biografias_lideres_politicos/america_central_y_caribe/guatemala/alvaro_colom_caballeros Extended biography by CIDOB Foundation] (in Spanish)
*cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7077829.stm|title=Centrist claims win in Guatemala|publisher=BBC News|date=2007-11-05