Javier Perez de Cuellar

Javier Felipe Ricardo Pérez de Cuéllar de la Guerra (Lima, January 19, 1920-Ib., March 4, 2020) was a Peruvian politician, lawyer and diplomat. He was the 5th Secretary General of the United Nations between January 1, 1982 and December 31, 1991, being to date the only representative of Latin American origin to assume such functions as ambassador.

Early Years

The son of Ricardo Pérez de Cuéllar and Rosa de la Guerra Cevallos, he studied at the Colegio San Agustín in Lima. Once he finished high school, he entered the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú to continue studying Law, opting for a professional degree in said career.

Married in first marriage to the French citizen Yvette Roberts (died in Lisbon, 2013), from whose marriage they had two children, Francisco (born in 1947, in Paris) and Águeda Cristina (born in 1955, in London). He was married in second marriage with the Piura citizen Marcela Temple Seminario (died in Brussels, 2013).

He died of natural causes at the age of one hundred at his home in Lima on March 4, 2020, the news was communicated by his son Francisco Pérez de Cuéllar.

Diplomatic career

Perez de Cuéllar after the conflict between Iraq and Iran.

He worked in the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Relations since 1940 (his entry was as a clerk via the prominent Alfredo Solf y Muro), and also in the diplomatic corps in 1944.

He participated in missions at the embassies of the United Kingdom, Bolivia and Brazil, returning to the ministry in 1961, where he remained until 1969, except for two years when he was ambassador to Switzerland (1964-1966).

He served as Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and during the 1968 coup he was in charge of taking command of the military leadership.

In 1969, he was appointed ambassador of Peru in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1969-1971) for the first time, in the government of Juan Velasco, breaking the narrow framework of Peruvian diplomacy until then. During this period he was also concurrent ambassador to Poland.

He was Peru's permanent representative to the United Nations from 1971 to 1975.

In March 1978, he was appointed ambassador of Peru to Venezuela, a position he held until April 1979.

In 1979, he was appointed UN Assistant Secretary General.

In 1981, back in Peru, President Fernando Belaúnde Terry proposed to the Senate the appointment of Pérez de Cuéllar as ambassador to Brazil. He even introduced the ambassador to the Brazilian President João Baptista Figueiredo who was in Lima on an official visit. However, the Chamber rejected the nomination with votes from the ruling Popular Action party. Given this, Pérez de Cuéllar requested the pass to the situation of retirement in the diplomatic service in October 1981.

In 2002, he assumed the position of ambassador of Peru in France and before Unesco. On July 22, 2004, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar submitted his resignation from this position, which was accepted to take effect from November 1, 2004, but later delayed until December 31, 2004.

Secretary-General of the United Nations (1982-1991)

In December 1981, he was elected Secretary General of the United Nations. He took office on January 1, 1982. He served as a go-between in the Falklands war, though he was unable to stop the conflict.

After being re-elected as Secretary General in 1986, he skillfully used diplomacy to achieve the "ceasefire" that ended the Iran-Iraqi war, mediating the conflict along with talks with both heads of state.

In 1991, he negotiated an end to hostilities in the Persian Gulf War. He achieved the release of Western hostages kidnapped by the Islamic group Hezbollah in Lebanon, and peace between the government and the guerrillas of El Salvador.

Political action

At the request of different Peruvian political groups, he agreed to be a candidate for the presidency of the Republic of his country in 1995. To this end, in 1994, he founded the political party Union for Peru. In the elections it reached the second highest vote, but then-President Alberto Fujimori was re-elected in the first round after obtaining 64% of valid votes (Peruvian electoral law grants victory in the first round to the candidate who obtains more than 50% of valid votes).

After the elections, Pérez de Cuéllar settled in Paris.

On November 22, the transitional president, Valentín Paniagua Corazao proposed to Pérez de Cuéllar to be president of the Council of Ministers and in the government that he would lead until July 28, 2001.

Pérez de Cuéllar arrived in Lima on November 24, 2000 and formed the new cabinet of ministers with Paniagua, in which it was agreed that the ambassador would also assume the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He was sworn in on November 25, 2000 in a ceremony held at the Government Palace.

As foreign minister, he was in charge of Peru's reintegration into the international community and promoted the Democratic Charter at the Inter-American Summit in Quebec. In the same way, relations with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights were resumed.

Academic teaching

He also worked as a professor of International Law at the Diplomatic Academy of Peru and as a professor of International Relations at the Air Warfare Academy of Peru.

Written Works

• Diplomatic Law Manual (Manual of Diplomatic Law), 1964, corrected and increased later.
• Pilgrimage for peace, originally edited in English (Pilgrimage for peace) in New York.
• Selection of speeches.
• The Andagoya, 2014, novel.

Decorations and tributes

Ambassador Javier Pérez de Cuéllar received an Honoris Causa Doctorate from the following Universities:

• Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
• University of Lima (17 July 2004)
• University of Nice
• Jagiellonian University of Krakow
• Charles University of Prague
• University of Sofia
• Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima
• Free University of Brussels
• Carleton University of Ottawa, Canada
• University of Paris (La Sorbonne)
• Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal, India
• University of Michigan
• University of Osnabrück, Germany
• University of Coimbra in Coimbra, Portugal
• National University of Mongolia in Ulán Bator
• Humboldt University of Berlin
• Moscow State University
• University of Malta in Valleta
• Universidad Leyden in the Netherlands
• La Salle University in Philadelphia
• Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts
• Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland
• University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom,
• Technological University of Peru
• University of Valladolid in Spain, among others.

Throughout his career he has been decorated by several dozen countries:

• Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel la Católica, Spain
• Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of San Miguel and San Jorge, United Kingdom
• Grand Cordon of the National Cedar Order, Lebanon
• Grand Cross, special class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Grand Officer of the Order to Merit of the Italian Republic
• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
• Grand Cross of the Order of the South Cross
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Oak
• Great Cross of the Legion of Honor

Main prizes

• Four Freedom AwardAmsterdam, Netherlands, 18 June 1992.
• Prize Athina Onassis man and MankindoAthens, 5 April 1991.
• In October 1987, he received the Prince of Asturias Award for promoting Ibero-American cooperation.
• In January 1989, he received the Olof Palme Award for International Understanding and Common Security from the Olof Palme Memorial Fund.
• In February 1989, he received the Jawaharlal Nehru Award.
• Man for Peace Award, 1988, Jointly with Peace Foundation, 25 October 1988.
• International Peace Award, 1986, International Association of University Presidents.
• Great World Peace Award, 1984.
• Gold Colibrí: Premio Adulto Mayor Prima AFP, 2013.

Last years

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar in 2015.

• On the occasion of his octogenous anniversary, he received a significant tribute in 2000 at the University of Lima where he gave a master lecture on international relations. On that occasion, all their decorations were exhibited in cabinets placed in a special room.
• On 22 July 2005, he suffered a heart attack and is treated in the intensive care unit in a hospital in Paris, where he was discharged on 30 July 2005.
• He held the permanent position of Ambassador of Peru to the Special Mission of the Peruvian State.
• On 19 January 2010, during the celebrations for its ninetieth anniversary, the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Peru honoured it with a stamp, book of memories of world personalities, as well as a medal commemorating the occasion. The new United Nations headquarters in Lima has also been called the Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Complex. The opening ceremony of the building was attended by 800 guests, chaired by President Alan García, with speeches by the Foreign Minister and other senior officials from both the United Nations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• On August 9, 2010, during a ceremony at the Palacio de Torre Tagle, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar donated his master soul from all the decorations received from dozens of countries to be displayed at the Inca Garcilaso Cultural Center, a dependence on the Peruvian Foreign Ministry. On that occasion he mentioned that "It is not a present. It's a retribution. I am returning what I learned in so many years of service to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs"
• About the numerous exchange of views between politicians and the press in Peru and Chile, about a possible return of the Huáscar Monitor to Peru, which is not part of the bilateral agenda but arises from the question of a journalist to the Chilean Defense Minister Jaime Ravinet, on the occasion of his visit to Peru on August 16, 2009, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar said that "as a Peruvian how I can't wish the Huáscar back to our country."
• On September 6, 2010, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar reported, through a public statement, that unscrupulous people took his name in order to seek financial assistance for the medical treatment of sick people. In the face of this situation the ambassador warned the international community, from its official website, about this scam.
• On 19 January 2020, Pérez de Cuéllar received the United Nations congratulations on his 100 years of life.