Julio César "El Pocho" Cortés Lagos (born 29 March 1941) is an Uruguayan football coach and former midfielder who participated in three World Cups with the Uruguay national team.

[3] After one season with Rosario, Cortés returned to Uruguay to join Peñarol in 1966, and became part of a first team that included players like Pedro Rocha, Alberto Spencer, Julio César Abbadie, and Omar Caetano.

[4] Later that year, Cortés helped Peñarol to defeat Spanish champions Real Madrid to win the Intercontinental Cup title.

In 1987, Cortés was named head coach of the Guatemala national team, managing it at that year's Pan American Games.

Cortés' second period as Guatemala's manager began in June 2000, and ended three years later, in what is one of the longest uninterrupted tenures for a coach of the Guatemalan team.

[10] In September 2006, the FEDEFUT reacted against the coach, accusing him of fraud before a local court, whom dictated that Cortés – who was at the time living in Costa Rica and was at the moment in Guatemala – remained in the country.