José Gustavo Guerrero

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Doctor
José Gustavo Guerrero
Guerrero at the White House in 1927
1st President of the International Court of Justice
In office
6 February 1946 – 1949
Vice PresidentJules Basdevant
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJules Basdevant
2nd Vice President of the International Court of Justice
In office
1949 – 5 February 1955
PresidentJules Basdevant (until 1952)
Arnold McNair (from 1952)
Preceded byJules Basdevant
Succeeded byAbdel Hamid Badawi
Judge of the International Court of Justice
In office
6 February 1946 – 25 October 1958
President of the Permanent Court of International Justice
In office
1936–1946
Vice PresidentCecil Hurst
Preceded byCecil Hurst
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Vice President of the Permanent Court of International Justice
In office
1931–1936
PresidentMineichirō Adachi (until 1933)
Cecil Hurst (from 1934)
Preceded byMax Huber
Succeeded byCecil Hurst
Judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice
In office
16 January 1931 – October 1945
12th President of the Assembly of the League of Nations
In office
September 1929 – 1930
Preceded byHerluf Zahle
Succeeded byNicolae Titulescu
Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador
In office
27 April 1927 – 1928
PresidentPío Romero Bosque
Preceded byReyes Arrieta Rossi
Succeeded byFrancisco Martínez Suárez
Personal details
Born(1876-06-26)26 June 1876
San Salvador, El Salvador
Died25 October 1958(1958-10-25) (aged 82)
Nice, France
Alma materUniversity of El Salvador
San Carlos University
OccupationDiplomat, jurist

José Gustavo Guerrero (26 June 1876 – 25 October 1958) was a Salvadoran diplomat and jurist who served as the last president of the Permanent Court of International Justice from 1937 to 1946 and the first president of the International Court of Justice from 1946 to 1949. He also served as President of the Assembly of the League of Nations from 1929 to 1930.

Early life

José Gustavo Guerrero was born on 26 June 1876 in San Salvador, El Salvador.[1] During the 1890s, Guerrero attended the University of El Salvador. He and other students were expelled from the university after issuing an open letter to Salvadoran president Rafael Antonio Gutiérrez criticizing his government.[2] Guerrero then moved to Guatemala to attend the San Carlos University of Guatemala where he graduated as a Doctor of Law in 1898.[3] After Guerrero's graduation, he returned to El Salvador where President Tomás Regalado appointed him as his personal secretary.[2]

Diplomatic career

In 1902, Guerrero was appointed as secretary of the Salvadoran embassy to the United States[4] and later as consul of El Salvador to Bordeaux, France.[5] In 1911, he was appointed as El Salvador's extraordinary and plenipotentiary envoy to Rome, Italy.[6][7] In June 1911, Guerrero attended the coronation of British king George V.[8] In 1912, Guerrero became El Salvador's envoy to Madrid, Spain, and in 1913, he became envoy to Paris, France.[7]

In 1927, Salvadoran president Pío Romero Bosque offered to appoint Guerrero as Minister of Foreign Affairs but Guerrero declined. Guerrero later accepted the appointment due to pressure from his associates to accept the position.[6] Guerrero became Minister of Foreign Affairs on 27 April 1927.[9] As minister, he established the Diplomatic School of El Salvador.[6] On 23 May 1927, Guerrero issued a decree that privatized the University of El Salvador.[2] In 1928, Guerrero led the Salvadoran delegation at the VI Interamerican Conference in Havana, Cuba.[6] He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs until his resignation in 1928[3] and he returned to Paris to resume his role as extraordinary and plenipotentiary envoy.[10]

In September 1929, Guerrero was elected almost unanimously as the president of the 10th session of the Assembly of the League of Nations.[10][11] He served until 1930.[3]

Jurist career

Permanent Court of International Justice

In 1930, Guerrero was elected to a nine-year term as a justice of the Permanent Court of International Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.[12] He assumed office in 1931,[11] and that year, he became the court's vice president. In 1936, Guerrero became the court's president.[3] Upon the end of his nine-year term, Guerrero was re-elected to a second term.[12]

During the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, Guerrero and a group of Dutch officials personally blocked German soldiers from entering the Palace of the Permanent Court of International Justice. Guerrero was the only one of the court's justices to remain int The Hague during the invasion of the Netherlands.[2] Eventually, however, Guerrero left the Netherlands.[13] During World War II, Guerrero helped Colonel José Castellanos Contreras, El Salvador's consul to Switzerland, issue fake Salvadoran passports to Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe.[2]

International Court of Justice

On 6 February 1946, Guerrero was elected as the first president of the newly-established International Court of Justice (ICJ).[12][14] He served until 1949 when he became the court's vice president; he served as vice president until 5 February 1955. That day, he was elected to a second term as an ICJ justice through 1964.[14]

Personal life

Guerrero had several children including Gustavo Adolfo who became a Salvadoran diplomat and ambassador.[15]

Guerrero was a proponent of Central American reunification and the reestablishment of the Federal Republic of Central America.[16]

Death

Guerrero died on 25 October 1958 in Nice, France.[4] He was buried in a cemetery in Nice.[17]

Legacy

Guerrero's is celebrated in El Salvador annually on 26 June (Guerrero's birthday) as the Day of the Diplomatic Salvadoran. The Dr. José Gustavo Guerrero Diplomatic Institute in Antiguo Cuscatlán, El Salvador is named after him.[2][5] The Doctor José Gustavo Guerrero Medal of Diplomatic Merit of El Salvador is also named after him.[18]

Awards and decorations

 El Salvador

References

Citations

  1. ^ Martínez Moreno 2002, p. 12.
  2. ^ a b c d e f González 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d International Court of Justice 2018, p. 2.
  4. ^ a b Gallardo 1959, p. 159.
  5. ^ a b Diplomat Magazine 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d López Jiménez 1963, p. 633.
  7. ^ a b Gallardo 1959, p. 160.
  8. ^ a b El Diario de Hoy 2018.
  9. ^ Leistenschneider & Leistenschneider 1980, p. 184.
  10. ^ a b López Jiménez 1963, p. 634.
  11. ^ a b Gallardo 1959, p. 165.
  12. ^ a b c López Jiménez 1963, p. 636.
  13. ^ Gallardo 1959, p. 166.
  14. ^ a b Gallardo 1959, p. 167.
  15. ^ López Jiménez 1963, pp. 638–639.
  16. ^ Gallardo 1959, p. 172.
  17. ^ Martínez Moreno 2002, p. 32.
  18. ^ International Court of Justice 2018, p. 1.
  19. ^ a b El Diario de Hoy 2019.

Bibliography

  • "Condecoración Póstuma a Dr. José Gustavo Guerrero" [Posthumous Decoration for Dr. José Gustavo Guerrero]. El Diario de Hoy (in Spanish). 23 January 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  • Gallardo, Ricardo (1959). "In Memoriam: José Gustavo Guerrero San Salvador (El Salvador), 26 de Junio de 1876 † Niza (Francia), 25 de Octubre de 1958" [In Memoriam: José Gustavo Guerrero San Salvador (El Salvador), 26 June 1876 † Nice (France), 25 October 1958]. Spanish Journal of International Law (in Spanish). 12 (1/2). Spanish Association of Professors of International Law and International Relations: 159–180. ISSN 0034-9380. JSTOR 44293430. OCLC 9978048539.
  • González, Mario (25 June 2022). "Dr. José Gustavo Guerrero, el Juez Salvadoreño que Confrontó a los Nazis" [Dr. José Gustavo Guerrero, the Salvadoran Judge Who Confronted the Nazis]. El Diario de Hoy (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  • "José Guerrero, el Salvadoreño que fue Nominado al Premio Nobel de la Paz" [José Guerrero, the Salvadoran who the Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize]. El Diario de Hoy (in Spanish). 15 October 2018. Archived from the original on 3 November 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  • "Legacy of a Diplomatic Luminary: Honoring Dr. José Gustavo Guerrero". Diplomat Magazine. 7 April 2024. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  • Leistenschneider, María & Leistenschneider, Freddy (1980). Gobernantes de El Salvador: Biografías [Governors of El Salvador: Biographies] (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. OCLC 7876291. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  • López Jiménez, Ramón (1963). "In Memoriam: José Gustavo Guerrero". Spanish Journal of International Law (in Spanish). 16 (3). Spanish Association of Professors of International Law and International Relations: 633–639. ISSN 0034-9380. JSTOR 44293729. OCLC 9977577319.
  • Martínez Moreno, Alfredo (28 November 2002). "José Gustavo Guerrero, Caballero Andante del Derecho" [José Gustavo Guerrero, Walking Knight of Law] (PDF). Institute of Judicial Investigations (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica: National Autonomous University of Mexico: 11–32. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  • "Tribute to José Gustavo Guerrero, First President of the International Court of Justice" (PDF). International Court of Justice. The Hague, Netherlands. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2025.

Further reading

  • Arévalo-Rengifo, José Miguel (2010). El Salvadoreño que Trascendió las Fronteras: Dr. José Gustavo Guerrero [The Salvadoran Who Transcended Frontiers: Dr. José Gustavo Guerrero] (in Spanish). San Salvador, El Salvador: J.M. Arévalo-R. ISBN 9789992373347. OCLC 781788541.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to José Gustavo Guerrero.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador
1927–1928 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Assembly of the League of Nations
1929–1930 		Succeeded by
Court offices
Preceded by Vice President of the Permanent Court of International Justice
1931–1935 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Permanent Court of International Justice
1936–1944 		Office abolished
New office President of the International Court of Justice
1946–1949 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Vice President of the International Court of Justice
1949–1955 		Succeeded by
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