Former U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar dies at 100
Former United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuellar, who presided during multiple international crises in the 1980s, has died, the global body said Thursday. He was 100.
The Peruvian, who became the United Nations' fifth secretary-general, served two terms over a 10-year span from 1982 to 1992.
He guided the organization amid escalating tensions of the Cold War and moved aggressively to expand its international peacekeeping role.
"He was an accomplished statesman, a committed diplomat and a personal inspiration who left a profound impact on the United Nations and our world," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.
Guterres credited him with a series of diplomatic successes during his tenure, including Namibian independence, the end of the Iran-Iraq war, the release of American hostages in Lebanon, a peace accord in Cambodia, and a peace agreement in El Salvador.
During his second term, the Soviet Union withdrew troops from Afghanistan. And Pérez de Cuellar was credited with playing a crucial role in establishing political stability in Nicaragua.
He was the first, and still the only, Latin American to hold the top U.N. job.
At: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2020/03/05/Former-UN-Secretary-General-Javier-Perez-de-Cuellar-dies-at-100/2521583419789/
Former U.N. Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuellar, 1920-2020, and his wife Marcela on the day of his swearing in as U.N. Secretary-General in 1982.
Pérez de Cuellar was credited with reviving the UN's diplomatic strength in the 1980s. He remains the only Latin American to hold the top U.N. job.
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