Government of Guatemala and Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation 1997

Assembled together in Oviedo, the 1997 Prince of Asturias Award Jury for International Cooperation, comprised of Enrique Álvarez, Jaime Carvajal y Urquijo, Enrique Fernández-Miranda, Fernando Ramón Fernández Noval, Antonio Garrigues Walker, Martín González del Valle, Rodolfo Martín Villa, Santiago de Mora-Figueroa, Marcelino Oreja Aguirre, Francisco Pinto Balsemao, Alfredo Sáenz Abad, Ovidio Sánchez, Nicolás Sartorius, Gustavo Suárez Pertierra, Fernando de Ybarra, presided over by Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo and with Teodoro López-Cuesta Egocheaga acting as secretary, has decided to grant the 1997 Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation to the Government of Guatemala and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity, jointly, for having signed, after more than thirty years of a bloody and destructive conflict that occasioned tens of thousands of victims, more than a million refugees and exorbitant physical damage, the so-called "Firm and Lasting Peace Agreement", concluded with a spirit of harmony and reconciliation in Guatemala City last December 29.

The Jury´s heartfelt desire is that the award serves as a stimulus to the Guatemalan people and their representatives for culminating the encouraging process that is underway and as an example for settling the peace in Central America.

Oviedo, 16th May 1997.