Óscar José Rafael Berger Perdomo (; born 11 August 1946) is a Guatemalan businessman and politician who served as the President of Guatemala from 2004 to 2008.
Early years and family
Berger was born to an upper-class family with large sugar and coffee holdings. His paternal grandparents were Belgian immigrants. He graduated in law from the private, Jesuit Rafael Landívar University.
In 1967 he married Wendy Widmann, also from a land-owning Guatemalan family. He had a son, and a grandchild named Juan Pablo Berger.
Political career
In 1985, Berger joined Álvaro Arzú's successful campaign to become mayor of Guatemala City. From January 1991 to June 1999, he was mayor himself. After leaving office, he ran in the 1999 presidential election as the candidate of the National Advancement Party, but lost to Alfonso Portillo.
A representative of the industrial and land oligarchy that financed his electoral campaign, Berger was elected with 54.13% of the vote in the presidential election of December 2003, ahead of his rival from the centre-left, Alvaro Colom. Only 46% of those registered on the electoral rolls took part in the vote.
Berger's party worked for national reconciliation following the civil war that gripped the country until 1996.
Mayor of Guatemala City (1991-1999) As university classmates, Berger established a friendship with Álvaro Arzú with whom they founded the then PAN civic committee, which would later become a political party. With the support of Arzú, Berger won a seat at the Municipal Council of Guatemala City, taking office on January 15, 1986. He would later join different municipal commissions which focused on Sports, Public Health, Agriculture, Livestock, and Food, and also became director of the Municipal Social and Sports Club, one of the most popular soccer clubs in Guatemala.
On May 11, 1989, Berger and Arzú registered the National Advance Party (PAN). The newly formed center-right party would participate and win in the 1990 Guatemalan city mayoral election. Berger would be sworn in as mayor on January 15, 1991, and become re-elected in the 1995 mayoral election.
PAN would also find success in the 1995 general election, gaining the majority of seats in Congress and qualifying Álvaro Arzú to the second round of the presidential election. Arzú would go on to defeat FRG candidate, Alfonso Portillo.
Presidential candidacy
1999 candidacy
During Arzú's presidential term, Berger expressed his interest in running for the presidency. On June 27, 1999, PAN would formalize his candidacy for the 1999 general election. Accordingly, Berger would step down from his mayoral duties and devote his time to the campaign.
Berger would run a campaign focusing on combatting poverty, increasing the country's wage limit, and being tough on organized crime. However the populist rhetoric being delivered by second-time presidential hopeful, Alfonso Portillo would have a greater reach with the Guatemalan populace. Berger would go on to lose the second round of the presidential election; many speculated his loss as a punishment for the arrogance of President Arzú and the questionable ways state corporations were privatized during his mandate.
The electoral loss would cause conflict within the PAN party, which would later have a faction of the party leave, to form the Unionist Party. During this time, Berger would break his relationship with Arzú, blaming his bad governance for his defeat against Portillo's FRG party.
2003 candidacy
In the spring of 2002, Berger returned to the political arena with a newly formed conservative political coalition called the Great National Alliance (GANA) encompassing the Patriot Party, the Reform Movement, (MR), and the National Solidarity Party (PSN). His association with GANA would cause him to be expelled from PAN. Nevertheless, Berger would accept GANA's presidential nomination after seeing a significant lead in the country's polls.
The beginning of the 2003 presidential race was marked by the unusual registration of Efraín Ríos Montt as a presidential candidate - despite it being prohibited by the constitution - and the extortions and assassinations of prominent political leaders. However, Montt would not have the significant votes to go to the second round, making the election a race between Álvaro Colom, leader of the National Unity of Hope (UNE), and Berger. Running on a campaign of political, economic, and social reform, and the explicit support of the country's oligarchs, Berger would win the election with 54% of the vote. His coalition would also win 47 seats in Congress.