NEW YORK: Javier Perez de Cuellar, the Peruvian diplomat who led the United Nations as its fifth secretary-general died at his home in Lima on Wednesday. He was aged 100.
Perez de Cuellar, who served as United Nations secretary-general from 1982 to 1991, was a practitioner of quiet diplomacy– his association with the UN began with the first-ever General Assembly meeting in 1946.
“If I want to be effective, I have to be discreet,” he said in a speech at his inauguration as the UN chief that defined his tenure. “I am not running for the Nobel Prize”.
During his time in office, he grappled with several international crises, including the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan, and played a crucial role in ending the Iran-Iraq war of 1980 to 1988. He also played a crucial role in securing the release of American hostages held in Lebanon as well as peace accords in Cambodia and El Salvador. He was unable to negotiate a peace deal between Britain and Argentina during the 1982 Falklands War.
The current holder of the UN’s top job, Antonio Guterres, expressed his profound sadness over Perez de Cuellar’s death, saying he was a “committed diplomat and a personal inspiration who left a profound impact on the United Nations and our world”.
“He was an accomplished statesman, a committed diplomat and a personal inspiration who left a profound impact on the United Nations and our world.”
— @antonioguterres on the passing of former Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar https://t.co/GA1djrowKz pic.twitter.com/wiYbdDPQ1X
— United Nations (@UN) March 5, 2020
In a statement issued at UN Headquarters in New York, Guterres said, “Mr. Perez de Cuellar’s life spanned not only a century but also the entire history of the United Nations, dating back to his participation in the first meeting of the General Assembly in 1946.
“His tenure as Secretary-General coincided with two distinct eras in international affairs: first, some of the iciest years of the Cold War, and then, with the ideological confrontation at an end, a time when the United Nations began to play more fully the role envisaged by the founders.
“Mr. Perez de Cuellar played a crucial role in a number of diplomatic successes — including the independence of Namibia, an end to the Iran-Iraq War, the release of American hostages held in Lebanon, the peace accord in Cambodia and, in his very last days in office, a historic peace agreement in El Salvador.”
In 1979, Perez de Cuellar rose to the position of UN Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs. From April 1981, while still holding this post, he acted as the former Secretary-General’s Kurt Waldhiem’s Personal Representative on the situation relating to Afghanistan.
In that capacity, Perez de Cuellar visited Pakistan and Afghanistan in April and August of that year in order to continue the negotiations initiated by the Secretary-General some months earlier.
He was an accomplished statesman, a committed diplomat and a personal inspiration who left a profound impact on the United Nations and our world – @antonioguterres on the death of former Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.
Read full statement: https://t.co/pvF4bDmj5F pic.twitter.com/n6dSjLGL99
— UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) March 5, 2020
