Óscar Berger

Óscar José Rafael Berger Perdomo, born on 11 August 1946 in Guatemala City, is a former President of Guatemala.

Early years
Of Belgian descent, Berger was born to an upper-class family with large sugar and coffee holdings. He graduated in law from the private, Jesuit Rafael Landívar University.

Marriage and career
In 1967 he married Wendy Widmann, also from a land owning Guatemalan family. From the mid seventies he ran a successful skittles parlor. In 1985 he 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.

Political career
In the presidential election held on 9 November 2003, Berger the candidate for the conservative Grand National Alliance after being persuaded out of a retirement spent farming to return to politics. He obtained 34 percent of the votes, putting him well ahead of Álvaro Colom of the National Union of Hope (26 percent) and former president Efraín Ríos Montt of the Guatemalan Republican Front (19 percent).

A run-off vote between Berger and Colom took place on 28 December 2003, which Berger won with a 54 percent share of the vote. He was sworn in on 14 January 2004 and left office 14 January 2008.