Alfonso Portillo Cabrera
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Alfonso Antonio Portillo Cabrera (born 24 September 1951) is a
Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
n 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 then led by retired general and deposed military ruler Efraín Ríos Montt (1926 – 2018). In 2014, ten years after his departure as President of Guatemala, Portillo would plead guilty to
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
charges in a United States court.


Early life and education

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 Chilpancingo de los Bravo (commonly shortened to Chilpancingo; ; Nahuatl: Chilpantsinko) is the capital and second-largest city of the state of Guerrero, Mexico. In 2010 it had a population of 187,251 people. The municipality has an area of in ...
, and his doctorate from the
National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...
(UNAM) in Mexico City. However, the veracity of such claims remains uncertain since no evidence has been provided to support them.


Career

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." 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 Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
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 Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
. 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.


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 Delinquent or delinquents may refer to: * A person who commits a felony * A juvenile delinquent, often shortened as delinquent is a young person (under 18) who fails to do that which is required by law; see juvenile delinquency * A person who fa ...
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.


Presidency (2000–2004)

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:
2003 Guatemala election General elections were held in Guatemala on 9 November 2003, with a second round of the presidential election held on 28 December.Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p323 Óscar Berger won the presiden ...
), he backed former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt to succeed him. However, the FRG lost to Óscar Berger Perdomo's GANA party, who was sworn in to replace Portillo on 14 January 2004. A 2014 audit of 2001 showed illegal transfers from other departments to the military.


Post-presidency

When his political immunity was revoked on 19 February 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. His actual extradition did not occur until 7 October 2008. 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 The Central American Parliament ( es, Parlamento Centroamericano), also known as PARLACEN, is the political institution and parliamentary body of the Central American Integration System (SICA). Its headquarters are in Guatemala City. History ...
(and thus regain his immunity from prosecution). In January 2010, reports stated that the U.S. government was looking for Portillo in relation to
money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
charges. On 26 January 2010, Portillo was apprehended by local authorities in Guatemala near
Punta de Palma Punta is an Afro-indigenous dance and cultural music originating in the Caribbean Island of Saint Vincent And The Grenadines by the Garifuna people before being exiled from the island. Which is also known as Yurumei. It has African and Arawak ...
. Portillo and his associates were absolved of all embezzlement charges on 9 May 2011 by a Guatemalan court that determined that prosecutors, Guatemala's Public Ministry, did not present sufficient evidence to convict the former president. The Public Ministry said they disagree with the court's decision and announced plans to appeal the ruling. On 26 August 2011, the Constitutional Court ruled that he must be extradited to the United States. He would then be the first former Guatemalan President to stand prosecution in the United States. He was extradited to the United States on 24 May 2013 to face
money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
charges. He is accused of laundering US$70 million of Guatemalan money through US banks. On 18 March 2014, former President Portillo pleaded guilty at a hearing before United States District Judge Robert P. Patterson. On 22 May 2014, Judge Patterson sentenced Portillo to 70 months in prison, $2.5 million in forfeiture and a $100 special assessment fee. Guatemala's former president, 62 years of age, faced a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine or twice the money involved in the illegal transactions.Expresidente Portillo se declara culpable ante Corte de EE. UU.
. ''Siglo 21'', 18 de marzo de 2014.
On 25 February 2015 Portillo was released from prison in Denver, the US, and returned to Guatemala City.Guatemala ex-President Alfonso Portillo freed from US jail
Retrieved 2015-02-28.


References


External links


Biography by CIDOB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portillo, Alfonso Presidents of Guatemala Members of the Congress of Guatemala People convicted of money laundering 1951 births Living people People from Zacapa Department National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Guatemalan politicians Institutional Republican Party politicians 20th-century Guatemalan people 21st-century Guatemalan people Guatemalan politicians convicted of crimes Heads of government who were later imprisoned