Alejandro Giammattei

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Giammattei and the second or maternal family name is Falla.
Alejandro Giammattei
Alejandro Giammattei (2019) (cropped).jpg
Giammattei after taking the oath of office, 2020
51st President of Guatemala
Assumed office
14 January 2020
Vice PresidentGuillermo Castillo
Preceded byJimmy Morales
Personal details
Born
Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei Falla

(1956-03-09) 9 March 1956 (age 65)
Guatemala City, Guatemala
NationalityGuatemalan and Italian[1]
Political partyVamos
Spouse(s)Rosana Cáceres (divorced)[2][3]
Children3 (including Marcela)
Signature

Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei Falla (Spanish pronunciation: [aleˈxãndɾo ʝamaˈtei̯];[a] born 9 March 1956) is a Guatemalan politician who is the incumbent President of Guatemala. He is a former director of the Guatemalan penitentiary system and participated in Guatemala's presidential elections in 2007, 2011, and 2015. He won in the 2019 election[4][5][6] and assumed office on January 14, 2020.[7][8]

Political career[]

Giammattei was the general coordinator of the electoral processes in 1985, 1988, and 1990. He gained recognition at both the national and international level under the orders[dubious – discuss] of former Vice President of the Republic of Guatemala Arturo Herbruger Asturias.

He has been a consultant to several companies since 2000.[9] After the great failure with the mayoral elections, he was appointed director of the Guatemalan Penitentiary System in 2006. After he took office, he had several conflicts and accusations about the Pavorreal case, leading to his incarceration for a short time.[citation needed] He ceased to be director of the Penitentiary System in 2008.[10]

Giammattei has had three appearances in the general elections for President of Guatemala. The first was in 2007, with the then Official Party Great National Alliance GANA with strong participation. The second was in 2011 with the Social Action Center Party but with many difficulties, which caused the Party to be dissolved due to not reaching the minimum percentage of votes required by the TSE. In the elections of 2015, he joined the presidency with the FUERZA party.[11]

Presidency[]

Giammattei and his predecessor, Jimmy Morales during his inauguration as President.

Giammattei became the presidential candidate for the Vamos party in the 2019 presidential elections. He placed second in the first round behind Sandra Torres on June 16, 2019 with 13.95% of the vote, but won the second round against the latter on August 11, 2019 with 57.96% of the vote.

On January 14, 2020, Giammattei assumed office as president of the Republic of Guatemala, succeeding Jimmy Morales.

Guatemala experienced a political crisis in November 2020, following the adoption of a controversial budget. Most of the funds are earmarked for privately managed infrastructure and neglect the fight against poverty and child malnutrition, which affects nearly half of all children under five, while generating an increase in public debt. Congress was burnt down following the repression of a demonstration by the police, while the Vice President, Guillermo Castillo Reyes, called on Alejandro Giammattei to resign for "the good of the country ". This crisis came at a time when the government was also facing criticism for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, as hospitals quickly became saturated and the Ministry of Health was accused of withholding information about the pandemic.[12]

Political views[]

Giammattei has vowed to bring back the death penalty and pledged to "crush violent gangs, fight poverty to stop migration and end 'disgusting' corruption."[13] He is against same-sex marriage and abortion, and supports using the military for civilian security.[14]

During his visit to Israel in December 2019, he pledged to have Lebanese Hezbollah declared a "terrorist organization", declaring that "the friends of Israel are the friends of Guatemala, and the enemies of Israel are our enemies.[15] At the same time, he considers to align the policy of Israeli settlements to that of the United States a month earlier.[16]

In 2019, he calls the Venezuelan government a "dictatorship" and says he wants to maintain the same diplomatic line as his predecessor Jimmy Morales towards Venezuela, a country with which Guatemala has severed diplomatic relations.[17]

Personal life[]

Alejandro Giammattei married Rosana Cáceres on February 11, 1989 and they have three children: Marcela, Estéfano and Alejandro Giammattei.[9] Alejandro and Rosana were separated by the time Alejandro launched his presidential campaign in 2019.[18][19] As result of the divorce, Marcela serves as First Lady of Guatemala.[2][3] He cites Mahatma Gandhi as his most admired world figure.[20] Giammattei suffers from multiple sclerosis and uses crutches in order to walk.[21] He is a Roman Catholic.

Giammattei's family has roots in Italy, and through his grandfather Giammattei retains Italian citizenship jure sanguinis, in addition to his Guatemalan citizenship by birthright.[1]

In September 2020, President Giammattei became ill with the coronavirus and has since recovered.

Notes[]

  1. ^ In isolation, Giammattei is pronounced [ɟʝamaˈtei̯].

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Giammattei dice que no está obligado a renunciar a sus nacionalidades guatemalteca e italiana" [Giammattei says that he is not obliged to renounce his Guatemalan and Italian nationalities].  [es] (in Spanish). 13 October 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Hija de Giammattei acompañará a su padre en la toma de posesión". Soy502 (in Spanish). 10 January 2020.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Hija de Giammattei tomará las funciones de Primera Dama". El Puerto Informa (in Spanish). 10 January 2020. Archived from the original on 16 May 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Elecciones Guatemala 2011". 3 March 2014. Archived from the original on 3 March 2014.
  5. ^ "Biografía « Alejandro Giammattei | Presidente 2012 – 2016". 30 January 2012. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012.
  6. ^ "Guatemala conservative wins presidential election: electoral tribunal". Reuters. 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  7. ^ Malkin, Elisabeth (11 August 2019). "Alejandro Giammattei, a Conservative, Wins Guatemala's Presidency" – via NYTimes.com.
  8. ^ "Conservative elected Guatemalan president". 12 August 2019 – via www.bbc.com.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "Alejandro Giammattei". 2 January 2012. Archived from the original on 2 January 2012.
  10. ^ https://www.cubaencuentro.com, Cubaencuentro com & Manuel Desdin. "Álvaro Colom gana la presidencia". www.cubaencuentro.com.
  11. ^ (PDF). 25 December 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20111225055529/http://prensalibre.com/decision_libre_-_actualidad/Perfil-Candidato-Elecciones-Presidenciables-Giammattei_PREFIL20110720_0003.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 December 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2019. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. ^ "Au Guatemala, le Parlement incendié pour protester contre les coupes budgétaires". 22 November 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2021 – via Le Monde.
  13. ^ "Corruption tainted Guatemala set to elect new president". au.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  14. ^ "Alejandro Giammattei: La educación es el mejor anticonceptivo – Prensa Libre" (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  15. ^ "Guatemala declarará a Hezbollah organización terrorista". 8 December 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  16. ^ "Guatemala's Giammattei: Time to recognize Jewish people's right to Israel". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  17. ^ Libre.be, La. "Le président élu du Guatemala refoulé à son entrée au Venezuela". LaLibre.be. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  18. ^ "Google Translate". translate.google.com. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  19. ^ "Google Translate". translate.google.com. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  20. ^ "Guatemalans elect Alejandro Giammattei in a lacklustre presidential vote". The Economist. 12 August 2019.
  21. ^ "| Time". Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2021.

External links[]

Political offices
Preceded by
Jimmy Morales 		President of Guatemala
2020–present 		Incumbent
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