Former Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom dies from cancer at 71 

Former Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom died on Monday at 71 years old from esophageal cancer, his party announced. Colom was president of the Central American country from 2008 to 2012. 

“I deeply lament the death of ex-President Colom, a man of profound democratic convictions and great social sensibility,” said Guatemalan lawmaker Orlando Blanco, leader of the National Unity of Hope Party in Congress.

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei expressed his condolences to the former president’s family. 

“I regret the sensitive passing of Álvaro Colom Caballeros, former president of Guatemala, who tonight passed away before us on his journey to eternity. To his family and friends I express my deepest condolences, may God comfort them in the face of such an irreparable loss,” Giammattei posted in a tweet. 

Colon won the 2007 elections against retired General Otto Perez Molina, in what was his third campaign for president. Colum, the country’s first leftist president in over 50 years, was known for supporting the United Nations International Commission Against Impunity In Guatemala, known as CICIG in Spanish. 

In 2018, Colom was arrested along with most of his former Cabinet in relation to a corruption investigation related to the country’s bus concession. Colom’s administration auctioned 25-year concessions for the capital city’s bus routes to private companies. However, the companies that won the contracts were later exempted from taxes, prompting the investigation. 

Colom died under preventative home arrest while he awaited trial. He had been in poor health and was released from the hospital a week and a half ago.