José Gustavo Guerrero

José Gustavo Guerrero
1st President of the International Court of Justice
In office 1946–1949
Vice President	Jules Basdevant
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Jules Basdevant
2nd Vice President of the International Court of Justice
In office 1946–1958
President	Jules Basdevant (until 1952) Arnold McNair (from 1952)
Preceded by	Jules Basdevant
Succeeded by	Abdel Hamid Badawi
Judge of the International Court of Justice
In office 1946–1958
President of the Permanent Court of International Justice
In office 1936–1946
Preceded by	Cecil Hurst
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Vice President of the Permanent Court of International Justice
In office 16 January 1931 – 1936
President	Mineichirō Adachi (until 1934) Cecil Hurst (from 1934)
Preceded by	Max Huber
Succeeded by	Cecil 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 1929–1930
Preceded by	Herluf Zahle
Succeeded by	Nicolae Titulescu
3rd Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador
In office 1927–1928
Preceded by	Reyes Arrieta Rossi
Succeeded by	Francisco Martínez Suárez
Personal details
Born	26 June 1876 San Salvador, El Salvador
Died	26 October 1958(1958-10-26) (aged 82) Nice, France
Occupation	Diplomat, jurist

José Gustavo Guerrero (26 June 1876 – 26 October 1958) was a Salvadoran diplomat and jurist. He was President of the Assembly of the League of Nations from 1929 to 1930. He served as the last president of the Permanent Court of International Justice from 1937 to 1946; he was also the first president of the International Court of Justice ("World Court") from 1946 to 1949, and remained on the Court as a regular judge until his death in 1958.

World War II

Jose Gustavo Guerrero was a Salvadoran judge who challenged the Nazis during Hitler's invasion on Europe. The distinguished Salvadoran jurist lived in Europe for many years in his career as a diplomat and as presiding judge of the Permanent Court of Justice International, based in The Hague, The Netherlands.

In 1937, during the rise of Nazism in Europe, Doctor Guerrero took over as president, until he was forced to leave in 1940 by the Nazis. Precisely after the fall of Holland, on May 17, 1940, the Nazis tried to take the Palace of the Permanent Court of Justice in The Hague, but there they met the Salvadoran, the only judge who stayed with a group of Dutch officers. When a German general approached, the Presiding Judge told him: "The Court and its staff are inviolable. Only on my body can they enter the palace." For this and others before courage in defense of Universal Law, Dr. Guerrero was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Once established in Geneva, Dr. Guerrero was visited by the Consul General of El Salvador in Switzerland, Colonel José Castellanos Contreras, who had fled from Germany, where he served as Consul until El Salvador broke relations with Germany.

Colonel Castellanos had already granted several visas to people of Jewish origin who were persecuted by the Nazis. However, now it was part of a larger project: the handing over of false documents of Salvadoran nationality to people of Jewish origin Castellanos then consulted Dr. Guerrero, who immediately agreed to that plan that saved the lives of thousands of Jews. According to the investigations, Dr. Guerrero would have contributed to writing the text of the document that was then given to them to save their lives.

In 1945 San Francisco, California, a conference was held attended by more than 50 countries and on which the United Nations Organization (UN) was founded.

External links

• Biography (in Spanish)