Alberto Fuentes Mohr

Alberto Fuentes Mohr (22 November 1927 – 25 January 1979) was a Guatemalan economist and politician, one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party. He also served as finance minister and foreign minister during the 1960s.^[1]

Biography

Alberto Fuentes Mohr was born in Quetzaltenango on 22 November 1927 as the son Dr. Alberto Fuentes Castillo and Maria Luisa Mohr. During his secondary education at the Instituto Nacional de Varones del Occidente (INVO) he stood out from an early age as a student leader. He studied at the London School of Economics and on his return to Guatemala starting working for the Bank of Guatemala.^[2]

In 1957 he was decorated Commander in the Order of the Quetzal in recognition for his efforts to promote the development of the Latin American Economic integration, and the Central American Common Market in particular.^[1]

In 1966 he was appointed finance minister in the government of Julio César Méndez Montenegro. However, his reformist financial policies, including a controversial fiscal reform, resulted in his transfer from the ministry of finance to the ministry of foreign affairs. On February 27, 1970, while serving as Guatemala's minister of foreign affairs, Fuentes Mohr was briefly kidnapped by an urban guerilla commando of the FAR, but was released just before election day after the government released FAR rebel Vicente Girón Calvillo from prison.^[3]

In November 1970, Fuentes Mohr was detained by the government of Colonel Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio and forced into exile. From 1970 to 1974 he lectured at the University of Central America in Costa Rica.

In 1974 Fuentes Mohr returned to Guatemala and ran as a candidate for the vice-presidency for the Frente Nacional de Oposición in the 1974 elections. Having been elected has a member of congress for Quetzaltenango he starts preparations for the foundation of the Social Democratic party (PSD).^[1] Alberto Fuentes Mohr was assassinated on 25 January 1979 (as was former Guatemala City mayor and leading opposition politician Manuel Colom) during a time of political repression by the right-wing military dominated government during the regime of General Romeo Lucas (president from 1978 until he was overthrown in 1982 by another right-wing faction of the military).^[1][2]

Published works

• Secuestro y prisión: dos caras de la violencia en Guatemala. San José: Editorial Universitaria Centroamericana. 1971.
• Impuestos sobre los intermediarios financieros y sus operaciones. Organización de Estados Americanos, Oficina de Finanzas Públicas in San José, Costa Rica. 1973.
• La creación de un mercado común: apuntes históricos sobre la experiencia de Centroamérica. Buenos Aires: Instituto para la Integración de América Latina, BID. 1973.

References

1. Secretaría de la Paz (SEPAZ) (2009). "Alberto Fuentes Mohr".
2. Comisión de Esclarecimiento Histórico (CEH) (1999). "Guatemala: Memoria del silencio. Caso ilustrativo no. 65 - Ejecuciones arbitrarias de Alberto Fuentes Mohr y Manuel Colom Argueta".
3. "Guatemalan Is Freed As Balloting Begins". Washington Post. 1970-03-02. p. A16.

• Anderson, Thomas P. 1988. Politics in Central America: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Revised Edition. pp. 40–41.