About

For the past seven years Juan Francisco Alfaro Del Cid has served as the legal head for leading fuel distributor in Central America, Uno Guatemala, a Royal Dutch Shell licensee and subsidiary of Grupo Terra. His role covers matters of commercial law, business, labour, taxes, regulatory, compliance and administrative law for Guatemala and Belize. Alfaro makes it his priority to build a strong team that serves as an established and sought-after function of the business, and gives constant training to all personnel in charge of the business. ‘All members of the legal departments are constantly training in different topics related to the business, such as regulatory law, taxes and tariffs, real estate, environment, competition law and intellectual property’, says Alfaro. He has additionally improved the quality of legal expenses, and created an environment where all the in-house lawyers are involved in every negotiation process to avoid unnecessary litigation. Amongst the standout transactions of his career he lists being the lead legal counsel on the acquisition of Pacific Oil, a transaction that lasted almost two years. ‘The transaction consolidated my position as a trusted in-house attorney in Uno Guatemala and with my colleagues’, explains Alfaro. As well as leading the legal team on M&A, compliance is a very important topic for him: ‘Since 2015 Guatemala set an example on how white collar crimes should be handled. This particular situation gives us the opportunity to set an example on how companies should do business and provide services to the government. As in-house lawyers, we have the responsibility to assume the role of compliance officers to help prevent business that could get in conflict with the law’, he says. Prior to his current role he worked in different regulated industries, such as telecommunications at Movistar and financial services at FHA. This experience not only made him a more all-round lawyer but gave him the ability to learn and adapt in different ways to provide legal counsel to top executives, who are among the best in their fields of experience.