Julio Roberto Suárez Guerra
President of the Bank of Guatemala
In office
1 October 2014 – 30 September 2018
Preceded byEdgar Barquín
Succeeded bySergio Francisco Recinos Rivera
Personal details
Alma materUniversidad de San Carlos de Guatemala

Julio Roberto Suárez Guerra is a Guatemalan banker who served as the president of the Bank of Guatemala from 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2018. He spent the majority of his term detained, relating to a large-scale fraud case, of which he was cleared on appeal in July 2019.[1]

Career

Suárez obtained a degree from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala.[2] From 2002 to 2005 he worked for the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.[3] Suárez also worked as the Guatemalan representative to the International Monetary Fund.[2] Suárez served as Vice President of the Bank of Guatemala from 2006 until his appointment as President per 1 October 2014.[3] He succeeded Edgar Barquín.[2]

On 20 May 2015 Suárez was arrested together with fifteen others on accusations of fraud, illegal charging of commissions, illicit association and influence peddling.[4][5] Suárez himself was accused of fraud.[4] The accusations were linked to the awarding of a contract to the Empresa Farmaceútica Pisa de Guatemala with services to the Guatemalan Social Security Institute, in which the accused were suspected of receiving kickbacks.[5] Suárez spent 3,5 years in detention before his trial commenced.[6] On 26 September 2018 he, and eleven others, were convicted of fraud and sentenced to six years and 3 months imprisonment.[7] On 5 July 2019 an appeal led to the clearing of the charges against Suárez.[1]

Suárez's term in office as President of the Bank of Guatemala ended on 30 September 2018, he was succeeded by Sergio Francisco Recinos Rivera.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Willian Cumes, Nimsi Rosales, Keneth Monzón (5 July 2019). "Sala anula sentencia y absuelve a 5 exdirectivos del Seguro Social en caso IGSS Pisa Chiquimula" (in Spanish). Prensa Libre. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. 1 2 3 Michael D. McDonald (18 September 2014). "Julio Suarez Picked to Lead Guatemala's Central Bank". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Julio Suárez appointed next Bank of Guatemala President". Central Banking.com. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Caso IGSS: 17 capturas, entre ellas la del Presidente del Banguat" (in Spanish). Soy 502. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  5. 1 2 Jude Webber (21 May 2015). "Guatemala's central bank chief arrested". Financial Times. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  6. ↑ Glenda Sanchez (23 September 2018). "Julio Suárez y los mil 278 días en prisión preventiva" (in Spanish). República. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018.
  7. ↑ Kenneth Monzón (26 September 2018). "Condenan a 12 y absuelven a nueve en caso IGSS Pisa Chiquimula" (in Spanish). Prensa Libre. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019.
  8. ↑ "Presidentes" (in Spanish). Bank of Guatemala. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
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