Pérez de Cuéllar, Javier (1920- )

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru, fifth secretary general of the United Nations 1982-91.

Peruvian politician and diplomat, fifth secretary general of the United Nations 1982-91, prime minister of Peru from 2000. He raised the standing of the UN by his successful diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-Iraq War in 1988 and secure the independence of Namibia in 1989. He was a candidate in the Peruvian presidential elections of 1995, but was defeated by his opponent Alberto Fujimori. After Fujimori's resignation in 2000, Pérez de Cuéllar was appointed prime minister by President Valentin Paniagua.

As UN secretary general, he was unable to resolve the Gulf conflict resulting from Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 before combat against Iraq by the UN coalition began in January 1991, but later in 1991 he negotiated the release of Western hostages held in Beirut.

A delegate to the first UN General Assembly 1946-47, he subsequently held several ambassadorial posts for Peru, including ambassador to Switzerland and the USSR. Between 1971 and 1975, he was Peru's permanent representative to the UN, becoming an undersecretary in 1979.