Life and Career
Born into a wealthy family in San Salvador, he was educated at the 'Escuela Americana' (American School) in San Salvador and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration. He returned to El Salvador to work for the family business, which included pharmaceuticals, coffee, cotton and until July 2008 the Semillas Cristiani Burkard (SCB) the Central American Monsanto Company representative, leading corn seed company focused on hybrid corn production.
He remained generally outside politics until the beginning of the 1980s when the armed conflict in El Salvador reached a critical point. As insurrection became more widespread, he became involved with the Liberal Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), which had been founded by School of the Americas trained military intelligence officer Roberto D'Aubuisson. In March 1985 D'Aubuisson resigned after ARENA suffered a defeat in the presidential elections. Cristiani became leader of the party in 1988.
In the local and congressional elections of March 1988, ARENA won 80% of the local votes and 31 of the 60 seats in the Congress; Cristiani won one of the seats. In the 1989 presidential election, Cristiani was elected President with 53.8% of the vote. His swearing-in marked the beginning of a 20-year period of ARENA presidencies, and also marked only the second time in El Salvador's history that the ruling party peacefully surrendered power to the opposition.
After becoming President of El Salvador, he, with members of his cabinet, and other colleagues visited Europe and London. He was the principal guest at a dinner held in his honour by the Western Goals Institute at Simpsons-in-the-Strand, London, on 25 September 1989. The guest list included figures such as Sir Alfred Sherman (policy advisor to Margaret Thatcher), Professor Antony Flew, Zigmunt Szkopiak, Denis Walker and Dr Harvey Ward, all of whom were active anti-communists. This visit, along with others that included Spain, Italy, United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and all Central American countries, was part of a diplomatic effort carried out by Cristiani and his delegates in order to find and secure international support for the peace negotiation efforts that were being carried out by his government. Support was actively and officially sanctioned by Venezuela, Mexico, and Spain, who would play an active role, along with the United Nations, in the negotiating process.
He was successful in the peace negotiations with the FMLN. The Salvadoran Civil War finally ended on 16 January 1992 with the Chapultepec Peace Accords. President Cristiani, during the signing ceremony of the 1992 peace accords walked to the ex-commanders of the FMLN and shook their hands as a spontaneous and non-expected gesture of reconciliation. He also walked to his wife and kissed her, sharing his happiness to the Salvadorean families.
He is also known for having started structural adjustment programs, following a strong neoliberal approach. He initiated the privatization of Salvadoran banks. His wife's family bought a considerable amount of stock of one of El Salvador's largest banks, Banco Cuscatlán, which was later bought by Citi Bank. He also is responsible for the privatization of Hotel Presidente. His government also supported a unilateral reduction of Salvadoran trade barriers, the introduction of the Value Added Tax, and the elimination of other direct taxes. Despite the fact that the tax revenues were reduced, government expenditures remained high.
During his term as president, his Minister of the Presidency, the 73 year-old Dr. Jose Antonio Rodriguez Porth, was assassinated. This brought disapproval by the international community against Human Rights. His murder has been attributed to an urban commando of the FMLN.
He retired from politics in 1994 when his presidential term ended, and returned as president of the ARENA party in 2009 after the first presidential defeat of ARENA in twenty years. He is currently leading an institutional reform process of this political party.
He married Margarita Llach in 1970, and has three children and nine grandchildren.
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