The Government of Nicaragua regretted this Tuesday the death of the former president of Guatemala Álvaro Colom, who died the day before at the age of 71 due to health complications.
“This morning we were able to communicate with the relatives of former President Álvaro Colom, whom we appreciate very much as a good, very good person, a good, very good citizen of this Central America in which we must strengthen unity,” said the Vice President of Nicaragua, Rosario Murillo, through government media.
The also wife of President Daniel Ortega affirmed that they were able to “talk to their children” and send them a floral offering on behalf of the people.
“He loved us very much and we loved him. We say goodbye, we say see you forever, and we say above all to Álvaro Colom: Central America will continue working for the unity that is the dream of all of us, because united we are strong”, concluded Murillo.
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Colom was head of state of Guatemala from 2008 to 2012, which coincided with the first (2007-2012) of the four consecutive terms that Ortega has been in power.
In 2020, the news broke that former President Colom suffered from esophageal cancer and that was the cause of his death, according to former members of his government cabinet.
Colom, who won the 2007 presidential election with the National Hope Unit (UNE), held his first public office between 1991 and 1997 as director of the National Fund for Peace (Fonapaz).
After his presidential term, Colom received various accusations of corruption for which he was imprisoned in 2018.
The ex-president will be buried this afternoon in a private cemetery located in the south of Guatemala City, according to information provided by his relatives.
