Juan Carlos Calleja Hakker (born 11 February 1976) is a Salvadoran businessman and politician. He is currently vice president of Grupo Calleja, owner of the largest supermarket chain ( Super Selectos) in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

—and former candidate for President of El Salvador for the

Nationalist Republican Alliance The Nationalist Republican Alliance ( es, Alianza Republicana Nacionalista, ARENA) is a conservative, right-wing political party of El Salvador. It was founded on 30 September 1981 by retired Salvadoran Army Major Roberto D'Aubuisson. It defines ...

(ARENA) for the presidential election of 2019.

Biography

Calleja is the grandson of Daniel Calleja, a Spanish immigrant who entered the retail business in the 1950s and founder of the brand Super Selectos, and son of Francisco Calleja, also a Spaniard by birth and promoter of the expansion and consolidation at the end of the year. By the end of the 20th century, the brand was the main chain of supermarkets in El Salvador. In 2008, the Super Selectos chain led by the Callejas formed a strategic alliance with other Central American and Panamanian supermarket chains to develop a consolidated business strategy in view of the advance in the Walmart regional market. Calleja has been president of this alliance since 2010. He has a degree in liberal arts from

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

of Vermont ( United States), where he graduated in 1999, and also holds a Masters in Business Administration from the

Stern School of Business The New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business (commonly referred to as NYU Stern, The Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business school of New York University, a private research university based in New York City. I ...

(New York University) obtained in 2005 During his stay in the United States he was vice president of FreshDirect, an online grocery store specializing in home delivery of their products. He served between 2013 and 2017 as a member of the Board of Directors of the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Fusades), as well as belonging to the Organization of Young Presidents (YPO in English), El Salvador chapter since the year 2002. He has been president since 2014 of the Calleja Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the construction of sustainable social development through investment in education, health and the environment. He is married to Andrea Lima Guirola de Calleja.

Political career

Calleja has been affiliated with the right-wing

(ARENA) since 2013, at which time his name was mentioned as presidential in several affiliate circles for the

2014 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2014. * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presi ...

; although, in the end the candidate for said elections would be the then-mayor of

San Salvador San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital i ...

, Norman Quijano, who was defeated by the candidate of the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), Salvador Sánchez Cerén, in the disputed second round of elections. He formalized his candidacy for the

2019 Salvadoran presidential election Presidential elections were held in El Salvador on 3 February 2019, with voters electing a President and Vice President for a five-year term. With 90% of the votes counted, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal declared former San Salvador mayor Na ...

on 10 November 2017, when he registered with the National Electoral Commission of ARENA, and was elected on 22 April 2018 to represent the right-wing party after obtaining 60.8 percent of the votes cast for the 58,874 members who participated in the primary election, defeating the businessmen Javier Simán and Gustavo López Davidson. This candidacy was ratified on 23 June during the Extraordinary General Assembly of the political institute. His running mate was

Carmen Aída Lazo Carmen Aída Lazo (San Salvador, January 3, 1976) is a Salvadoran economist and dean of the School of Economics and Business at Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios. She was a candidate for vice president of El Salvador for the National Coa ...

from the National Coalition Party (PCN). In the election held on 3 February 2019, Calleja won 31.7 percent of the popular vote, losing to former San Salvador Mayor, Nayib Bukele of the Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calleja, Carlos Living people 1976 births Nationalist Republican Alliance politicians Salvadoran people of Spanish descent Salvadoran businesspeople People from San Salvador Middlebury College alumni