Alfonso Portillo
Alfonso Antonio Portillo Cabrera (born
September 24,
1951) is a
Guatemalan politician. He served as the
President of the Republic of Guatemala from
2000 to
2004.
He took office on
January 14,
2000, representing the
Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG).Both his campaign and his government were based on advocating a "take from the rich and give to the poor" philosophy and taxation system to try to achieve wealth distribution, thus gain a solid base of popularity and votes from the poor and
indigenous within the highly unequal Guatemalan society, but his actual rule was generally considered unsuccessful if not disastrous.
Portillo obtained his academic qualifications in
Mexico. He received a degree in social sciences from the
Autonomous University of Guerrero (UAG) in
Chilpancingo, Guerrero, and his doctorate from the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in
Mexico City. 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 killed two students, a crime for which he was acquitted on the grounds of legitimate self-defence.
In
1989 he returned to Guatemala and joined the
Social Democratic Party (PSD), which had replaced the
Authentic Revolutionary Party the previous year. The little-known PSD was one of the very few
leftist parties left in existence after the military repression that had characterised the 1980s. He then moved to the
Guatemalan Christian Democrats (DCG), a centre-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 advisor to
Siglo Veintiuno, one of the two largest selling daily newspapers.
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. 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 barred from running in the
November 12 presidential election, 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
January 7 1996. With both candidates promising to finalise the peace negotiations Portillo narrowly lost, gaining 48.7% of the vote.
In July 1998 the FRG voted for him to be their presidential candidate the following year, having decided not to nominate Ríos Montt. Confirming this postulation in June 1999, Portillo launched a campaign in favour 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 during Arzú's tenure in the office. In contrast to 1995, the issue of the homicides in Mexico were brought up, and became a central electoral issue. Portillo immediately recognised that he had shot the three students, but claimed it was self defence. 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. He was also accused during the campaign of being Ríos Montt's marionette. On
7 November he won the first round with 47.8% of the vote, and in the second round on
December 26 he beat
"scar Berger with a resounding 68.3% of the vote.
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, including two massacres that took place while Ríos Montt was President (
Plan de Sánchez and
Dos Erres). 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 were 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
USA by many members of his staff, totalling more than
USD $1 billion.
In the first round of the
November 2003 elections (see:
Guatemala election, 2003), he backed former dictator
Efraín Ríos Montt to succeed him. However, the FRG lost to
"scar Berger's PAN party, who was sworn in to replace Portillo on
January 14,
2004.
When his political immunity was revoked on
February 19 2004 Portillo immediately fled to Mexico. On
August 16,
2004, immigration authorities there granted him a year-long work visa. He lives in Mexico City in an apartment in one of the city's most exclusive neighbourhoods.
Investigations are currently underway as to whether he received 1.5 million in bribes from the
Taiwanese government.
*
Biography in Spanish 
