Monday, April 18, 2011
For Jorge Ramón Hernández Alcerro, serving as Honduras’ ambassador to the United States seems like old times, having already served in this capacity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His current stint began on May 5, 2010. The year before, he had spoken out in favor of the overthrow of the elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya.
A member of the conservative National Party, Hernández Alcerro has worn many hats during his 35-year career, from professor of public law to banker to international judge to elected congressman to ambassador and more.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in judicial and social sciences from the Honduras National Autonomous University (1972). He also has a degree in advanced international studies with honors from the Institut Européen des Hautes Études Internationales (1973) and a doctorate in international cooperation law from the University of Nice (1975), both in France.
From 1975 to 1987, Hernández Alcerro was a law professor at the National Autonomous University of Honduras. In 1975-1976 he served as general coordinator on the Honduras-El Salvador Boundary Commisssion. He also served as undersecretary of foreign affairs (1978-1979), chief of staff to three foreign ministers (1976-1978; 1982-1986; 1986-1987), a congressman elected to the National Constituent Assembly in 1980 and to the National Congress in 1982, and a judge at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica (1985-1987).
From 1987 to 1988, he was the Honduran representative at the United Nations in New York and co-agent to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
His first stint as ambassador to Washington took place from 1988 to 1992.
His banking career occupied much of the 1990s, serving as vice president of the Central Bank of Honduras (1992-1993), executive director for Central America, Belize and Haiti at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC (1993-1996), executive vice president and executive president of the Honduran private bank Banco del País (1996-1998), and executive director of the Honduran Business Council for Sustainable Development (1998-1999).
He was again elected to the National Congress, in 2001 and 2005, while also serving as secretary of justice and the interior (2002-2005).
Prior to returning to the U.S. as ambassador, Hernández Alcerro was a judge at the Central American Court of Justice in Managua, Nicaragua (2007-2010).
He is married to Mariza Veiga, who is from Brazil. The couple has a son, a daughter and four grandchildren.Their son, Alejandro, is an investment banker with Goldman Sachs in Houston; their daughter, Morela, is a management professor at the University of Washington.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
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