Javier Pérez de Cuéllar

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Pérez de Cuéllar and the second or maternal family name is de la Guerra.

His Excellency
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
GCMG
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (1982).jpg
Pérez de Cuéllar in 1982
5th Secretary-General of the United Nations
In office
1 January 1982 – 31 December 1991
Preceded byKurt Waldheim
Succeeded byBoutros Boutros-Ghali
Prime Minister of Peru
In office
22 November 2000 – 28 July 2001
PresidentValentín Paniagua
Preceded byFederico Salas
Succeeded byRoberto Dañino
Minister of Foreign Relations
In office
22 November 2000 – 28 July 2001
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byFernando de Trazegnies
Succeeded byDiego García Sayán
Ambassador of Peru
1964–1966Switzerland
1969–1971
2002–2004France
Personal details
Born
Javier Felipe Ricardo Pérez de Cuéllar y de la Guerra

(1920-01-19)19 January 1920
Lima, Peru
Died4 March 2020(2020-03-04) (aged 100)
Lima, Peru
Political partyUnion for Peru (1994–2004)
Spouse(s)
Yvette Roberts-Darricau
​
​
(m. 1947; div. 1975)​
Marcela Temple Seminario
​
​
(m. 1975; died 2013)​
Children2 (by Roberts-Darricau)
Occupation
  • Diplomat
  • politician
Signature

Javier Felipe Ricardo Pérez de Cuéllar de la Guerra GCMG (/ˈpɛrɛs də ˈkweɪjɑː/;[1] Spanish: [xaˈβjeɾ ˈperez ðe ˈkweʝaɾ];[2] 19 January 1920 – 4 March 2020[3][4]) was a Peruvian diplomat and politician who served as the fifth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1 January 1982 to 31 December 1991. He ran unsuccessfully against Alberto Fujimori for President of Peru in 1995 and following Fujimori's resignation over corruption charges, he was Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from November 2000 until July 2001. In December 2004, he stepped down from his position as Peru's Ambassador to France, where he formerly resided. He was also a member of the Club de Madrid, a group of more than 100 former Presidents and Prime Ministers of democratic countries, which works to strengthen democracy worldwide.[5] At the age of 100 years, 45 days, at the time of his death in March 2020 Pérez de Cuéllar was both the oldest living former Peruvian prime minister and Secretary General of the United Nations.

Biography[edit]

Early years[edit]

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar was born on 19 January 1920 in Lima to a wealthy family of Spanish descent with ancestry from Cuéllar.[6][7] He studied in Colegio San Agustín of Lima, and then at Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.[citation needed]

Diplomatic career[edit]

Pérez de Cuéllar joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1940 and the diplomatic service in 1944, serving subsequently as Secretary at Peru's embassy in France, where he met and married his first wife in 1947, Yvette Roberts (1922–2013).[8] He also held posts in the United Kingdom, Bolivia, and Brazil, and later served as ambassador to Switzerland, the Soviet Union, Poland, and Venezuela. From his first marriage, he has a son, Francisco, born in Paris, and a daughter, Águeda Cristina, born in London.[9]

He was a junior member of the Peruvian delegation to the first session of the General Assembly, which convened in London in 1946, and a member of the delegations to the 25th through 30th sessions of the Assembly. In 1971, he was appointed permanent representative of Peru to the United Nations, and he led his country's delegation to all sessions of the Assembly from then until 1975.[citation needed]

In 1973 and 1974, he represented his country in the Security Council, serving as its President at the time of the events in Cyprus in July 1974. On September 18, 1975, he was appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Cyprus – a post he held until December 1977, when he rejoined the Peruvian Foreign Service. On 29 October 1975, in Cyprus, Pérez de Cuéllar married his second wife, the former Marcela Temple Seminario (14 August 1933,[10] – 3 July 2013)[11][12] with whom he had no children.

On 27 February 1979, he was appointed as United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs. From April 1981, while still holding this post, he acted as the Secretary-General's Personal Representative on the situation relating to Afghanistan. In that capacity, he visited Pakistan and Afghanistan in April and August of that year in order to continue the negotiations initiated by the Secretary-General some months earlier.[citation needed]

United Nations Secretary-General[edit]

Pérez de Cuéllar and Iranian President Ali Khamenei in Tehran, 1987

On 31 December 1981, Pérez de Cuéllar succeeded Kurt Waldheim as Secretary-General and was re-elected for a second term in October 1986. During his two terms, he led mediations between the United Kingdom and Argentina in the aftermath of the Falklands War and promoted the efforts of the Contadora Group to bring peace and stability to Central America. He also interceded in the negotiations for the independence of Namibia, the conflict in Western Sahara between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the war between Croatian forces seeking independence and the Yugoslav People's Army as well as the local Serb forces, and the Cyprus issue. In 1986 he presided over an international arbitration committee that ruled[13] on the Rainbow Warrior incident between New Zealand and France. In 1983, he initiated the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in order to unite countries to pursue sustainable development.[citation needed]

Shortly before the end of his second term, he rejected an unofficial request by members of the Security Council to reconsider his earlier decision not to run for a third term, shortened to two years, as a search for his successor had not, as of then, yielded a consensus candidate.[citation needed] A suitable candidate, Boutros Boutros Ghali of Egypt, was agreed upon in late December 1991, and his second term as Secretary-General concluded, as scheduled, on 31 December 1991.

Later life and death[edit]

Pérez de Cuéllar in 2008

On 22 July 2005, Pérez de Cuéllar suffered a heart attack and was admitted to a hospital in Paris; he was released on 30 July. On 19 June 2017, with a lifespan of 35,581 days he surpassed Alfredo Solf y Muro (1872–1969) in terms of longevity and had the longest life of any Prime Minister in Peru's history.

Pérez de Cuéllar turned 100 in January 2020 and died in Lima on 4 March 2020, at age 100.[14]

Honours and awards[edit]

He has received several honorary degrees : National University of San Marcos, Vrije Universiteit Brussel,[21] Jagiellonian University,[22] University of Cambridge,[23] Université Laval, University of Valladolid, University of Salamanca, Université libre de Bruxelles, University of Coimbra, Humboldt University of Berlin, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas,[24] University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, Charles University, Sofia University, Carleton University, Visva-Bharati University, Osnabrück University, National University of Mongolia, Moscow State University, University of Malta, Leiden University, La Salle University, Tufts University, Johns Hopkins University.[25]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Pérez de Cuéllar". Collins English Dictionary.
  2. ^ In isolation, Pérez is pronounced [ˈperes].
  3. ^ Tucker, Spencer C. (8 October 2010). The Encyclopedia of Middle East Wars: The United States in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq Conflicts [5 volumes]: The United States in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq Conflicts. ABC-CLIO. p. 968. ISBN 978-1-85109-948-1.
  4. ^ McFadden, Robert D. (5 March 2020). "Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Dies at 100; U.N. Chief Brokered Peace Pacts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Former Heads of State and Government | Club de Madrid". Clubmadrid.org. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  6. ^ McFadden, Robert D. (5 March 2020). "Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Dies at 100; U.N. Chief Brokered Peace Pacts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  7. ^ Briceno, Franklin (5 March 2020). "Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian two-term UN chief, dies at 100". AP NEWS. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  8. ^ "The International Year Book and Statesmen's Who's who". 1978.
  9. ^ "Royal Blue Book 1968: Coronation Edition; with a Memoir of His Imperial Majesty Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Aryamehr Shahanshah of Iran by His Excellency Ardeshir Zahedi". 1968.
  10. ^ "Who's who in France". J. Lafitte. 9 February 2019 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ PERÚ21, Redacción (3 July 2013). "Falleció Marcela Temple, esposa de Javier Pérez de Cuéllar". Peru21.
  12. ^ "Family tree of Marcela Temple Seminario". Geneanet.
  13. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 December 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^ Perú, Redacción El Comercio (4 March 2020). "Javier Pérez de Cuéllar falleció a los 100 años". El Comercio Perú (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  15. ^ "Chronicle". New York Times. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Chronicle". New York Times. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  17. ^ Four Freedoms Award#Freedom Medal
  18. ^ http://www.archiviodisarmo.it/images/pdf/list.pdf
  19. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  20. ^ "Inter-American Dialogue | Javier Pérez de Cuéllar". www.thedialogue.org. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  21. ^ "Honorary doctor Javier Pérez de Cuéllar dies aged 100". Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  22. ^ "Doktorzy honoris causa". Jagiellonian University. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  23. ^ "Javier Perez De Cuellar, Doctor Honoris Causa at Leiden University". University of Cambridge. 1 (2): 199–203. 1988. doi:10.1017/S092215650000087X. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  24. ^ "Perez de Cuellar Receives Honorary Doctorate". UN Multimedia. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  25. ^ "Javier Perez de Cuellar". UN. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2020.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by United Nations United Nations Secretary-General
1982–1991 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Prime Minister of Peru
2000–2001 		Succeeded by
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