National Liberation Movement (Guatemala)
Encyclopedia
The National Liberation Movement ( or MLN) was a Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

 military-backed party formed in 1960 by Mario Sandoval Alarcón
Mario Sandoval Alarcón
Mario Sandoval Alarcón was a Guatemalan politician. He is the founder in 1960 of the Movimiento de Liberación Nacional . In 1954, he helped support colonel Carlos Castillo's coup against Jacobo Arbenz....

 as a breakaway from the National Democratic Movement
National Democratic Movement (Guatemala)
National Democratic Movement was a Guatemala military-backed party formed in 1954 by President Carlos Castillo Armas.It was the ruling party from 1954 until 1958....

.

The 1963 coup that saw the government of Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes
Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes
General José Miguel Ramón Ydígoras Fuentes was President of Guatemala from 2 March 1958 to 31 March 1963. He took power following the murder of Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas....

 led to the MLN becoming the main party of the military. Although they were not successful in the presidential election of 1964 their candidate in 1970, Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio
Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio
Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio was President of Guatemala from 1 July 1970 to 1 July 1974.Carlos Arana was born in Barberena, in the department of Santa Rosa....

, was elected President
President of Guatemala
The 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...

, in coalition with the Institutional Democratic Party
Institutional Democratic Party
The 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...

. Victory was also secured in the 1974 election
Guatemalan general election, 1974
General elections were held in Guatemala on 3 March 1974. No candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the presidential election, resulting in Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García being elected president by Congress on 12 March. The Congressional elections were won by an alliance of the...

 when Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García
Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García
Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García was President of Guatemala from 1 July 1974 to 1 July 1978. He was the son of a Norwegian father and Guatemalan mother....

's candidacy was also endorsed by the PID. However they later broke their alliance with the PID for the 1978 elections
Guatemalan general election, 1978
General elections were held in Guatemala on 5 March 1978. No candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the presidential election, resulting in Fernando Romeo Lucas García being elected president by Congress on 13 March. The Congressional elections were won by the National Liberation...

. Its candidate, former President Enrique Peralta Azurdia
Enrique Peralta Azurdia
Alfredo Enrique Peralta Azurdia was President of Guatemala from 31 March 1963 to 1 July 1966.Enrique Peralta was born on June 17, 1908 in Guatemala City. He took over the presidency after a coup against president Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes...

, placed second in the election.. The party was close to the MANO
Mano
-People:* Mano people, an ethnic group in Liberia** the Mano language* Mano * Mano * Mano , Phillimon Junior Ramaphoko, formerly of C.D...


death squad
Death squad
A death squad is an armed military, police, insurgent, or terrorist squad that conducts extrajudicial killings, assassinations, and forced disappearances of persons as part of a war, insurgency or terror campaign...

.

In the 1982 election, the MLN's candidate was former vice-president Mario Sandoval Alarcón
Mario Sandoval Alarcón
Mario Sandoval Alarcón was a Guatemalan politician. He is the founder in 1960 of the Movimiento de Liberación Nacional . In 1954, he helped support colonel Carlos Castillo's coup against Jacobo Arbenz....

, who placed second in what was considered to be a fraudulent election, followed by the coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

 of 1982. For the 1984 elections to the Constitutional Assembly
Guatemalan Constitutional Assembly election, 1984
Constitutional Assembly elections were held in Guatemala on 10 June 1984. Although the National Centre Union received the most votes, an alliance of the National Liberation Movement and Nationalist Authentic Centre emerged as the largest bloc with 23 of the 88 seats. Voter turnout was...

, the party was allied with National Authentic Central, another right-wing party, and the 23 seats won was the largest bloc in the assembly, albeit outnumbered by reformist parties. They renewed their alliance with the Institutional Democratic Party for the 1985 election
Guatemalan general election, 1985
General elections were held in Guatemala on 3 November 1985, with a second round of the presidential elections taking place on 8 December. The presidential election resulted in a victory for Vinicio Cerezo, who had received $650,000 towards his campaign from media owner Remigio Ángel González...

. Once more, Mario Sandoval Alarcón was its presidential candidate, and placed fourth in the race whilst the alliance won 12 seats in Congress. The party faded therefater: it ran alongside the National Advancement Front in 1990
Guatemalan general election, 1990
General elections were held in Guatemala on 16 November 1990. with a second round of the presidential election held on 6 January 1991. The presidential election resulted in a victory for Jorge Antonio Serrano Elías of the Movement of Action in Solidarity, whilst the National Centre Union won the...

without much success, winning just 4 seats in Congress. Left to continue alone, it secured less than 1% in 1995 (winning a single seat) and again in 1999 (when it lost representation).
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