Javier Pérez de Cuéllar

From Hispanopedia
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
Pérez de Cuéllar in 1982.
5th [[Secretary-General of the United Nations Organization]]
In office
January 1, 1982 – December 31, 1991
Preceded byKurt Waldheim
Succeeded byBoutros Boutros-Ghali
President of the Council of Ministers of Peru
In office
November 22, 2000 – July 28, 2001
PresidentValentín Paniagua Corazao
Preceded byFederico Salas
Succeeded byRoberto Dañino Zapata
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru
In office
November 22, 2000 – July 28, 2001
PresidentValentín Paniagua Corazao
Preceded byFernando de Trazegnies
Succeeded byDiego García-Sayán
Peru Ambassador to France
In office
2002 – December 31, 2004
Succeeded byFrancisco Miró Quesada Rada
Peru Ambassador to Poland
In office
1969–1971
Peru Ambassador to the Soviet Union
In office
1969–1971
Peru Ambassador to Switzerland
In office
1964–1966
Personal details
Born(1920-01-19)January 19, 1920
Lima, Peru
DiedMarch 4, 2020(2020-03-04) (aged 100)
Lima, Peru
Spouse(s)Yvette Roberts-Darricau (m. 1947, divorced)
Marcela Temple Seminario (m. 1975; died 2013)
Parent(s)Ricardo Pérez de Cuéllar
Rosa de la Guerra Cevallos
ProfessionLawyer, diplomat
Affiliations
Club Nacional

Javier Felipe Ricardo Pérez de Cuéllar de la Guerra (Lima, January 19, 1920 – ibid., March 4, 2020)[1] was a Peruvian politician, lawyer and diplomat.

Pérez de Cuéllar was the 5th Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1, 1982, to December 31, 1991, the first Hispanic American politician to hold the office.

Biography

The son of Ricardo Pérez de Cuéllar and Rosa Guerra Cevallos, he studied at the Colegio San Agustín in Lima. After finishing secondary school, he entered the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru to study Law, obtaining his professional degree in that field.

He was first married to the French citizen Yvette Roberts (died in Lisbon, 2013), with whom he had two children, Francisco (born in 1947 in Paris) and Águeda Cristina (born in 1955 in London). His second marriage was to Marcela Temple Seminario, a native of Piura (died in Brussels, 2013).

He died of natural causes at the age of one hundred at his home in Lima on Wednesday, March 4, 2020; the news was announced by his son Francisco Pérez de Cuéllar.[2][1]

Diplomatic career

Pérez de Cuéllar after the conflict between Iraq and Iran.

Pérez de Cuéllar worked at the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1940 and joined the diplomatic corps in 1944.

He served on missions at the embassies in the United Kingdom, Bolivia and Brazil, and returned to the ministry in 1961, where he remained until 1969, except for two years during which he was ambassador to Switzerland (1964–1966).

He served as Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and during the 1968 coup d'état he was in charge of the takeover of command by the military leadership.

In 1969, he was appointed Peru's first ambassador to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1969–1971), under the government of Juan Velasco, breaking with the narrow framework of Peruvian diplomacy until then. During this period he was also concurrently ambassador to Poland.

He was Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations from 1971 to 1975.

In March 1978, he was appointed Ambassador of Peru to Venezuela, a post he held until April 1979.

In 1979, he was appointed Under-Secretary-General of the UN.

In 1981, back in Peru, President Fernando Belaúnde Terry proposed to the Senate the appointment of Pérez de Cuéllar as ambassador to Brazil. He even introduced the ambassador to Brazilian President João Baptista Figueiredo, who was in Lima on an official visit. However, the chamber rejected the appointment with votes from the ruling party, Acción Popular. In response, Pérez de Cuéllar requested retirement from the diplomatic service in October 1981.

In 2002, he took up the post of Ambassador of Peru to France and to UNESCO. On July 22, 2004, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar submitted his resignation from this post, which was accepted effective November 1, 2004, but later postponed until December 31, 2004.

Secretary-General of the United Nations (1982–1991)

In December 1981, he was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations. He took office on January 1, 1982. He acted as an intermediary in the Falklands War, although he was unable to stop the conflict.

After being re-elected as Secretary-General in 1986, he skillfully used diplomacy to achieve the "ceasefire" that ended the Iran–Iraq War, serving as mediator in the conflict alongside talks with both heads of state.

In 1991, he negotiated the end of hostilities in the Persian Gulf War. He secured the release of Western hostages kidnapped by the Islamic group Hezbollah in Lebanon, and peace between the government and the guerrillas of El Salvador.

Political activity

At the request of various Peruvian political groups, he agreed to run for the presidency of the Republic of his country in 1995. To this end, in 1994, he founded the political party Union for Peru. In the elections he obtained the second-highest number of votes, but the then President Alberto Fujimori was re-elected in the first round with 64% of the valid votes (Peruvian electoral law awards first-round victory to the candidate who obtains more than 50% of the valid votes).

After the elections, Pérez de Cuéllar settled in Paris.

On November 22, the interim President, Valentín Paniagua Corazao, proposed to Pérez de Cuéllar that he be President of the Council of Ministers in the government he would head until July 28, 2001.

Pérez de Cuéllar arrived in Lima on November 24, 2000, and formed the new cabinet of ministers with Paniagua, in which it was agreed that the ambassador would also take on the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He was sworn in on November 25, 2000, in a ceremony held at the Government Palace.

As Foreign Minister, he was in charge of reintegrating Peru into the international community and promoted the Democratic Charter at the Inter-American Summit in Quebec. Likewise, relations with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights were resumed.

Academic teaching

He also worked as a professor of International Law at the Diplomatic Academy of Peru and as a professor of International Relations at the Air War Academy of Peru.

Written works

  • Manual de Derecho Diplomático (Manual of Diplomatic Law), 1964, later revised and expanded.
  • Peregrinaje por la paz, originally published in English (Pilgrimage for Peace) in New York.
  • Selected speeches.
  • Los Andagoya, 2014, novel.

Decorations and tributes

Ambassador Javier Pérez de Cuéllar received an honorary doctorate from the following universities:

Over the course of his career, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar was decorated by several dozen countries:

Main awards

  • Four Freedom Award, Amsterdam, Netherlands, June 18, 1992.
  • Athina Onassis man and Mankindo Prize, Athens, April 5, 1991.
  • In October 1987, he received the Prince of Asturias Award for promoting Ibero-American cooperation.
  • In January 1989, he received the Olof Palme Prize for International Understanding and Common Security from the Olof Palme Memorial Fund.
  • In February 1989, he received the Jawaharlal Nehru Award.
  • Man for Peace Award, 1988, jointly with the Peace Foundation, October 25, 1988.
  • International Peace Award, 1986, International Association of University Presidents.
  • Great World Peace Award, 1984.
  • Colibrí de Oro: Prima AFP Senior Citizen Award, 2013.

Final years

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar in 2008.
  • On the occasion of his eightieth birthday, in 2000 he received a significant tribute at the University of Lima, where he gave a keynote lecture on international relations. On that occasion, all his decorations were displayed in showcases placed in a special room.
  • On July 22, 2005, he suffered a heart attack and was treated in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Paris, from which he was discharged on July 30 of that year.
  • He held the permanent post of Ambassador of Peru on Special Mission of the Peruvian State.
  • On January 19, 2010, during the celebrations for his ninetieth birthday, the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Peru honored him with a postage stamp, a book of remembrances from world figures, and a medal commemorating the occasion. Likewise, the new United Nations headquarters in Lima was named the Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Complex.[3] The inauguration of the building was attended by 800 guests, presided over by President Alan García, with speeches by the Foreign Minister of the Republic and other senior officials from both the United Nations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  • On August 9, 2010, at a ceremony held at the Torre Tagle Palace, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar donated to his alma mater all the decorations he had received from dozens of countries, to be exhibited at the Inca Garcilaso Cultural Center, a dependency of the Peruvian Foreign Ministry. On that occasion he said: "It is not a gift. It is a repayment. I am giving back what I learned in so many years of service to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."[4][5][6][7]
  • Regarding the extensive exchange of opinions between politicians and the press of Peru and Chile about a possible return of the Monitor Huáscar to Peru, which is not part of the bilateral agenda but arose from a journalist's question to the Chilean Minister of Defense Jaime Ravinet during his visit to Peru on August 16, 2009, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar stated that "as a Peruvian, how could I not wish for them to return the Huáscar to our country."[8]
  • On September 6, 2010, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar announced, through a public statement, that unscrupulous people had used his name to solicit financial aid for the medical treatment of sick people.[9] In view of this situation, the ambassador warned the international community, through his official website, about this type of fraud.[10]
  • On January 19, 2020, Pérez de Cuéllar received congratulations from the United Nations on his 100th birthday.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Belaúnde, María Elena (March 5, 2020). "Falleció a los 100 años Javier Pérez de Cuéllar". CNN (in español). Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Javier Pérez de Cuellar: Muere el exsecretario general de la ONU". La Vanguardia (in español). March 5, 2020. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  3. ↑ Homenaje al Embajador Javier Pérez de Cuéllar en nueva sede de Naciones Unidas en el Perú. Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo, Perú. Lima, 19.1.2010
  4. ↑ "Inauguración de exposición de condecoraciones del Embajador Pérez de Cuéllar. Andina, Agencia peruana de noticias. 9.8.2010" (in español). Archived from the original on January 28, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
  5. ↑ Javier Pérez de Cuéllar obsequia sus condecoraciones al Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Perú. El Comercio, 10.8.2010
  6. ↑ El mejor homenaje a don Javier Pérez de Cuéllar. Editorial de El Comercio, 11.8.2010
  7. ↑ "El Brillo de una vida. Edición 2142 de Caretas, 12.8.2010" (in español). Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
  8. ↑ "Pérez de Cuéllar a favor de que Chile devuelva el monitor Huáscar". La República, 21.8.2010
  9. ↑ "Javier Pérez de Cuéllar denuncia que delincuentes toman su nombre para pedir donativos". El Comercio, 7.9.2010
  10. ↑ " Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Alerta de estafa. Sitio web oficial.
  11. ↑ Javier Pérez de Cuéllar: ONU envió saludo por sus 100 años de vida. Published January 19, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
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Preceded by:
Kurt Waldheim
 Secretary-General of the United Nations


1982 – 1991

 Succeeded by:
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Preceded by:
None
 Presidential Candidate of Union for Peru
1995 (second place)
 Succeeded by:
Máximo San Román
Preceded by:
Federico Salas
 President of the Council of Ministers of Peru

2000 – 2001 		Succeeded by:
Roberto Dañino
Preceded by:
Fernando de Trazegnies
 Minister of Foreign Affairs
2000 – 2001
 Succeeded by:
Diego García-Sayán
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