Álvaro Colom Caballeros (Spanish: [ˈalβaɾo koˈlon]; 15 June 1951 – 23 January 2023) was a Guatemalan engineer, businessman, and politician who served as the 47th president of Guatemala from 2008 to 2012, as well as the General-Secretary of the political party, National Unity of Hope (UNE).

[3][2] He attended primary and high school at the private Catholic educational institution of Liceo Guatemala [es] and later revealed that he considered entering a seminary.

[1][4] In 1977, Colom became a member of the Chamber of Industry of Guatemala, assuming the leadership of the Apparel and Textile Commission, and the Advisory Council of the Trade Association of Exporters of Non-Traditional Products (AGEXPRONT).

[1] With the accession of Jorge Serrano Elías to the presidency of Guatemala, Colom was appointed Vice Minister of Economy in January 1991 and, in June of that year, Serrano appointed him executive director of the National Fund for Peace (FONAPAZ), gaining prominence by managing the situation of refugees in Mexico fleeing the civil war and the development of rural communities during the negotiation of the Peace Accords with the guerrilla formation, the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG).

Colom soon became an advisor to the Peace Secretariat (SEPAZ) and executive director of the Presidential Unit for Legal Assistance and Land Conflict Resolution (CONTIERRA).

[1][5] Following these accords, the URNG forged the center-left coalition with Authentic Integral Development and Unidad de la Izquierda Democrática (UNID).

Although Colom did not have much in common with the revolutionaries, instead considered a moderate progressive in his ideology, he was selected by that coalition on 22 April 1999 as a candidate for the presidential elections of November that year.

[1] Colom left the coalition in the fall of 2000 after entering into a dispute with its members and, together with several deputies, founded the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party.

In his electoral program, he presented policies that prioritized health care for the most vulnerable, the schooling of infants, the defense of comprehensive public security in particular, the creation of 200,000 jobs, and the abolition of the Tax on Commercial and Agricultural Enterprises (IEMA).

[1] Among the measures of his electoral program, they highlighted the commitment to reduce the number of deputies to 60 or 75, not to raise taxes, to fight against tax evasion, to strengthen the power of the municipalities, to restructure the Army in accordance with the peace agreements, to convene a fiscal pact, to promote a program of infant and primary education, to build 200,000 public housing units, and to reduce the rate of crime in the country with "intelligence.

[17] On 22 December 2008, Colom dismissed Minister of Defence Marco Tulio García Franco and the entire military leadership in a reshuffle motivated by his intention to modernize the Army and to strengthen and harmonize the relations between the government and the Armed Forces.

The lawyer began investigating the murders of businessman Khalil Musa and his daughter Marjorie and concluded that he could have been killed because he could uncover a corruption case involving Colom and other authorities.

[23] In an interview with CNN Español, Colom asserted the Rosenberg video was "completely fake,"[24] thus challenging early reports from the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which validated its authenticity.

[33][34][35] He also tackled the growing influence of Mexican drug cartels, especially the Zetas, and, working with the attorney general through the anti-corruption commission, succeeded in arresting some of the country's most violent criminals.

[40] On 2 March 2004, after months of accusations, Colom was formally charged by the Prosecutor's Office with the crime of money laundering concerning the case of the "looting" of the Comptroller General of Accounts.

[1] On 11 March, he acknowledged before the Prosecutor's Office having been financed with the amounts identified by the NGO Amigos en Acción, but denied having any responsibility for the embezzlement of public funds.

[1] On 30 October 2015, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources filed a criminal complaint against Colom before the Attorney General's Office and other members of his government for signing the extension of the oil contract with Perenco.

[1] After a fractured palate contracted in a fall as a child, he had trouble pronouncing the letter r.[1] Colom rejected abortion, homosexual marriage, and drug use.