Cerezo Arévalo, Mario Vinicio (1942– )

Guatemalan politician, president 1986–91. He led the centre-left Guatemalan Christian Democratic Party (PDCG) to victory in congressional and presidential elections in 1985, to become the country's first civilian president in two decades. He was criticized for failing to tackle economic problems and for being too accommodating to the military, but his period in office helped to consolidate military rule. He was debarred by the constitution from standing for a second term, and his PDCG successor, Alfonso Cabrera, was defeated by the right-wing Jorge Serrano Elias in the 1990 presidential election.