Carlos René Pineda Sosa (born 29 May 1972) is a Guatemalan politician and businessman who ran in the

2023 Guatemalan general election General elections were held in Guatemala on 25 June 2023 to elect the president and vice president, all 160 seats of the Congress, all 20 members of the Central American Parliament, and mayors and councils for all 340 municipalities in the coun ...

. He was considered a political

dark horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, or a contestant that on paper should be unlikely to succeed but yet still might. Origin Th ...

and he made his first candidacy for the presidency under Citizen Prosperity party, where polls placed him as a favorite. He was eventually disqualified.

Early life and career

Pineda was born in Zacapa to businessman Carlos René Pineda Rossell and Lilian Consuelo Sosa Orellana. His father joined the Guatemalan Army at age 17 during the Guatemalan Civil War, and rose to be part of the Presidential General Staff during the government of Carlos Arana Osorio. After returning from military service, he was a transporter for the United Fruit Company and later Chiquita. Pineda spent part of his childhood in

Santo Tomás de Castilla Santo Tomás de Castilla, officially known as Mátías de Gálvez though it popularly retains its former name, is a port city in the Izabal Department, Guatemala. It lies at Amatique Bay off the Gulf of Honduras and is administratively a part of P ...

, attending primary school there, later moving to Guatemala City to pursue further education, eventually studying at the . Between 1989 and 1990, he worked in a jewelry store in the United States owned by a friend. Pineda currently owns businesses in a few sectors, including agriculture (growing African palms, bananas and other fruits; cattle ranching), petroleum (gas stations), and transport. During

Hurricane Eta Hurricane Eta was a deadly and erratic Saffir-Simpson scale, Category 4 hurricane that devastated parts of Central America in early November 2020. The record-tying twenty-eighth Tropical cyclone naming, named storm, thirteenth hurricane, and s ...

and Hurricane Iota in 2020, Pineda lent an aircraft he owned to help and evacuate people in

Alta Verapaz Department Alta Verapaz () is a department in the north central part of Guatemala. The capital and chief city of the department is Cobán. Verapaz is bordered to the north by El Petén, to the east by Izabal, to the south by Zacapa, El Progreso, and Ba ...

and Izabal Department.

Political career

Pineda's political career unofficially began in 2019, when he was mentioned as a possible running mate for the candidacy of of the National Change Union in that year's presidential election. However, this ended up not materializing, and Pineda joined

Avanza Avanza Bank Holding AB is the largest stockbroker and brokerage firm in Sweden and on the Stockholm Stock Exchange Nasdaq Stockholm, formerly known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange ( sv, Stockholmsbörsen), is a stock exchange located in Friha ...

, where he was elected secretary general of the party's branch in Izabal Department. After the 2019 elections and the dissolution of Avanza, Pineda joined and left several political parties that were in the process of forming. During this period, he began creating content on TikTok.

Lead-up to presidential candidacy

In 2022, Pineda joined

Cambio Cambio is the Spanish word for "change", and may refer to: ;Publications * ''Cambio'' (magazine), a Colombian political magazine *Cambio (newspaper), a Bolivian newspaper ;Entertainment and games * ''Cambio'' (band), a Filipino band *Perissone Ca ...

, another political party in formation, which was linked to the children of former presidential candidate

Manuel Baldizón Manuel Antonio Baldizón Méndez (, born 6 May 1970) is a Guatemalan politician, lawyer, and hotel entrepreneur. He was the leader of the "Libertad Democrática Renovada" (LIDER) Renewed Democratic Liberty party and was a candidate in the ...

(at the time still in prison in the United States for

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 ...

). Pineda began rising within the organizations ranks and was described as a potential presidential candidate for them, but resigned after Baldizón returned to Guatemala and began participating in Cambio's affairs. After leaving Cambio, Pineda engaged in talks with the

Guatemalan People's Party Guatemalan People's Party ( es, Partido Popular Guatemalteco) was a political party in Guatemala led by Neto Bran. History The mayor of Mixco Neto Bran was part of several political parties, including: the Reform Movement, with which he won ...

and Bienestar Nacional before finally deciding to join Citizen Prosperity, where he was announced as the party's presidential candidate on 5 February 2023 for the 2023 election. His naming as the presidential candidate so quickly after he joined led to the resignation of the Secretary General of the party (and former Minister of the Economy), Antonio Malouf, who had previously been considered the party's likely presidential nominee. Pineda was officially registered as the party's presidential candidate on 7 March, with YouTuber Efraín Orozco (who had previously joined Cambio along with him) announced as the vice presidential candidate.

Campaign

Pineda experienced a sharp rise in opinion polls in mid-April 2023, finishing between first and third place in those conducted since then. The media has explained this is due to his outsider profile, ability to harness social media, and to communicate closely and colloquially with voters. Pineda's social media strategy was being managed by Cristian Aguilar, who had assisted fellow outsider candidate Jimmy Morales in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. Morales ended up winning the election for the presidency.

Disqualification

On 9 May 2023, the Cambio party filed an ''amparo'' with the Administrative Litigation Chamber against Citizen Prosperity, arguing that they had made several errors when holding their party assemblies required for the nomination of candidates. On 19 May, the Chamber accepted the ''amparo'', suspending Pineda's presidential candidacy as well as the candidacy for 218 candidates for mayoral and legislative races. Pineda stated that he would appeal the decision to the Constitutional Court. On 26 May, the Constitutional Court rejected Pineda's appeal.

Personal life

Pineda married María Guadalupe Hurtarte in July 1996, and has three children.

References

20th-century Guatemalan people 21st-century Guatemalan people Living people Guatemalan politicians 1972 births {{Guatemala-politician-stub