Pérez de Cuéllar, Javier << PEH rehs deh KWAY yahr, hah vee AIR >> (1920-2020), was a diplomat from Peru who served as secretary-general of the United Nations (UN) from 1982 to 1991. He was the UN’s fifth secretary-general and its first from Latin America. Pérez de Cuéllar worked to improve the UN’s administrative efficiency. He also took part in negotiations on conflicts in Afghanistan, Central America, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, and the Persian Gulf. In 1988, he helped negotiate a truce between Iran and Iraq. In 1991, he led talks that resulted in a treaty ending a civil war in El Salvador.
Pérez de Cuéllar was born on Jan. 19, 1920, in Lima, Peru. He received a law degree at the Catholic University in Lima in 1943 and entered Peru’s foreign service in 1944. He was Peru’s ambassador to Switzerland, Venezuela, and the Soviet Union and, in 1971, became Peru’s delegate to the UN.
Pérez de Cuéllar served as prime minister of Peru for several months in 2000 and 2001. In 2001, he became Peru’s ambassador to France and representative to UNESCO. He died on March 4, 2020.
