Jorge Serrano Elias, most known today for being the brief leader of a coup d’état in Guatemala, played a significant impact in modern politics in his birthplace. Serrano grew up in a privileged and luxurious environment, having been born into an aristocratic family and having a father who valiantly stood up to a dictator. He emigrated to the United States to finish his higher education after completing his primary schooling. He underwent a significant religious shift while in America. Serrano had to quit his birthplace after receiving death threats for truthfully reporting on the terrible and brutal conditions of Guatemala’s indigenous people following a horrific earthquake. Serrano was allowed to return to Guatemala after a fellow evangelist was elected president. Serrano became involved in internal politics, unsuccessfully running for president once before winning a second election. Serrano launched a “self-coup” and dismantled the country’s democratic institutions after implementing several beneficial improvements during his brief stint in government. Serrano was forced to depart his hometown less than two weeks later. Serrano has exploited his wealth and political connections to live a comfortable and successful life in exile from his nation for the past two decades.
Childhood and Adolescence
Jorge Serrano Elias was born in Guatemala City on April 26, 1945. Jorge Adan Serrano was his father, and Rosa Elias, his mother, was of Lebanese origin. Serrano is the youngest of three sisters. He went to the ‘Liceu Guatemala’ in Guatemala City for high school.
In 1967, he earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and economic development from Guatemala’s ‘University of San Carlos.’ Serrano served as President of the Engineering Students Association at the University of San Carlos from 1966 to 1967. He also holds a doctorate in education and science from California’s ‘Stanford University.’
Career of Jorge Serrano Elías
After a lifetime as a committed Catholic, Serrano converted to evangelical Baptistism in 1975. He eventually became a member of the ‘Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship’ and then the ‘Pentecostal Church of the Word.’ Efrain Rios Montt was the head of the Guatemalan church.
Following a disastrous earthquake in Guatemala in 1976, he collaborated with numerous religious organizations in the United States to raise donations to aid his homeland. He later became a member of ‘El Shaddai,’ a Protestant congregation based in California.
He received multiple death threats after publishing a white paper regarding Guatemala’s indigenous peoples, prompting him to emigrate to the United States. From 1978 to 1981, he served as President of the Inter-American Council for Education, Science, and Culture of the Organization of American States.
In 1982, he went to Guatemala to take a job as Vice President of President Efrain Rios Montt’s ‘Advisory Board.’ Serrano alienated a big portion of the population the next year when he refused to shake hands with visiting Pope John Paul II.
He stood for President of Guatemala in 1985 as a member of the PDCN and PR parties, but finished third.
A year later, he co-founded the MAS political party. In 1987, he was appointed as one of four members of the ‘National Reconciliation Commission,’ which was tasked with examining the crimes of the old Rios Montt regime.
He ran for President of Guatemala as a member of the MAS party on November 11, 1990, and was elected to a five-year term in the second round, defeating Jorge Carpio. Serrano’s victory marked the first time in the country’s history that an incumbent president had peacefully relinquished power after a vote. In 1991, he recognized Belize, a contentious topic after a century of conflicts and disputes between the two countries.
He signed the Guatemala Protocol, a set of accords aimed at lowering trade barriers, in 1993. In the same year, Serrano struck an agreement with Mexico allowing 2.500 Guatemalan refugees to return home after fleeing their nation during the country’s decades-long civil war.
On May 25, 1993, in a surprising turn of events, he suspended the constitution, dissolved the Supreme Court, and disbanded Parliament in order to stage a “self-coup” and install himself as dictator. He resigned as president on June 1, 1993, in the face of public and military resistance, and fled to El Salvador. He and his family moved to Panama permanently six months later.
An extradition request to return Serrano to Guatemala was denied by Panamanian authorities on August 10, 1994.
He began his career as a consultant, assisting in the development of Panama’s famed Hacienda Country Club, which opened in 1997.
Guatemala issued an international arrest warrant for Serrano in 2002. Serrano is a real estate developer who works in both Panama and the United States. He appears once a week on the Panamanian radio chat show ‘La Palabra,’ which is broadcast across Guatemala.
Major Projects of Jorge Serrano Elías
From January 14, 1991, to June 1, 1993, Jorge Serrano served as President of Guatemala. By his presidency, he implemented a number of key changes, including the ‘Guatemala Protocol,’ which intended to lower trade tariffs, and a deal with Mexico for the return of migrants displaced during the Civil War.
Personal History and Legacy
Magda Bianchi de Serrano is Serrano’s wife. They have five children together. Juan Pablo and Arturo, two of their kids, are twins who now run the massive ‘Tikal Latinamerican Corporation,’ a mining concern based in Guatemala. Under Serrano, Otto Perez Molina, who is now Guatemala’s President, was the director of military intelligence. Molina backed Serrano’s takeover in 1993. Serrano became Guatemala’s second non-Catholic president in the country’s history. Efrain Rios Montt was the first.
Estimated Net Worth
Jorge is one of the wealthiest World Leaders and one of the most popular. Jorge Serrano Elias net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.