Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio (17 July 1918 – 6 December 2003) was
President of GuatemalaThe title of President of Guatemala has been the usual title of the leader of Guatemala since 1839, when that title was assumed by Mariano Rivera Paz...
from 1 July 1970 to 1 July 1974.
Carlos Arana was born in
BarberenaBarberena is a municipality in Santa Rosa department of Guatemala. Filled with local vendors and stores selling American goods, Barberena is a small town typical of the Guatemalan countryside....
, in the department of Santa Rosa.
A colonel in the
Army-History:Guatemala is a signatory to the Rio Pact and was a member of the Central American Defense Council . The President of the Republic is commander in chief. The Minister of Defense is responsible for policy...
, he was elected in an electoral process generally considered "non-transparent" on a platform promising a crackdown on law-and-order issues; his vice president was
Eduardo CáceresEduardo Rafael Cáceres Lenhoff served as Vice President of Guatemala from 1 July 1970 to 1 July 1974 in the cabinet of Carlos Arana.Died 31 January 1980 in the Burning of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala-City....
.
Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio (17 July 1918 – 6 December 2003) was
President of GuatemalaThe title of President of Guatemala has been the usual title of the leader of Guatemala since 1839, when that title was assumed by Mariano Rivera Paz...
from 1 July 1970 to 1 July 1974.
Carlos Arana was born in
BarberenaBarberena is a municipality in Santa Rosa department of Guatemala. Filled with local vendors and stores selling American goods, Barberena is a small town typical of the Guatemalan countryside....
, in the department of Santa Rosa.
A colonel in the
Army-History:Guatemala is a signatory to the Rio Pact and was a member of the Central American Defense Council . The President of the Republic is commander in chief. The Minister of Defense is responsible for policy...
, he was elected in an electoral process generally considered "non-transparent" on a platform promising a crackdown on law-and-order issues; his vice president was
Eduardo CáceresEduardo Rafael Cáceres Lenhoff served as Vice President of Guatemala from 1 July 1970 to 1 July 1974 in the cabinet of Carlos Arana.Died 31 January 1980 in the Burning of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala-City....
. The December following his election he declared a
state of emergencyA state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of government, alert citizens to alter their normal behaviors, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale for suspending civil liberties...
and conducted a ruthless, albeit effective, anti-guerrilla campaign; however, this same campaign also entailed the harassment and persecution of his political opponents, student leaders, and trade unionists.
Carlos Arana was the first of the string of
Institutional Democratic PartyThe Institutional Democratic Party was a Guatemalan pro-government political party active during the 1970s.The PID was formed in 1963 by Enrique Peralta Azurdia after he had seized power in a coup. A centre-right party, it was modelled on the Mexican Institutional Revolutionary Party. From the...
military rulers who would dominate Guatemalan politics in the 1970s and 1980s (his predecessor,
Julio César MéndezJulio César Méndez Montenegro was the Revolutionary Party President of Guatemala from 1 July 1966 to 1 July 1970. He was the first cousin of César Montenegro, who had served as diputado during the presidency of Guatemala's freely-elected, socialist-leaning president Jacobo Árbenz, who was...
, while dominated by the army, was nominally a civilian).
He also served as the ambassador to
NicaraguaNicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua , is a representative democratic republic. It is the largest country in Central America with an area of 130,373 km
2. The country is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west of...
.
External links