Take me to the picture gallery

Fact Sheet

Name: José Efraín Ríos Montt
Country: Guatemala
Birthday: 16 June, 1926
Died: still living
Dates in Power: 1982-1983
How Leader Came into Power: coup
Classification: Military dictator
Nuclear Capability: no
Major Achievements: Blamed for the causing genocide against the Mayan population in Guatemala resulting in 70.000 deaths. Staunch anti-Communist who fought against the Sandinista regime.

Score Card (click here for the explanations)

Charisma/ Popularity: 3
Danger Rating (Foreign Policy): 3
Oppression Rating: 4
Number of Domestic Victims: 4
Longevity: 1
Economics: 2.5
Norotiety/ Infamy: 2
Statesman Factor: 3
Extremism: 3.5
Progressiveness: 2.5
Total Score (50 max): 28.5

Diese Seite auf Deutsch anzeigen!

Cast your vote!

Browse Books on Rios Montt!:

José Efraín Ríos Montt (born June 16, 1926 in Huehuetenango, Guatemala) was the head of state in Guatemala between 1982-1983, and has remained active in politics ever since. His most current political office was President of the Congress of Guatemala, which he held until January 2004.

Montt’s military experience spans many decades, and in 1950 he graduated from the prestigious School of Americas in Panama, which was supported by the US government. In 1954 Montt assisted the CIA in the overthrow of Guatemalan Leader Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, who had been criticized to be a Communist due to his legallisation of the Communust Guatemalan Labour Party and his nationalization of farmlands.

Through the following years, Montt advanced in rank and importance, and in 1970 he became a Chief of Staff of the Guatemalan Army unter Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio’s regime. In 1974, Montt ran for President as a Christian Democrat and actually won the election but the results were thrown out and invalidated, making Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García president. Due to a schism with the Catholic Church in Guatemala, Montt left the church and became a born-again Christian, joining the Evangelical Church of the Word, for which he was a minister. He is still a personal friend of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

Montt was and remains staunchly anti-Marxist, and due to his unyielding anti-Communist stance, was considered friendly to the US government interests in the Central America.

Montt, backed by the CIA, led a coup d’état against General Ángel Aníbal Guevara, who was elected President on March 07, 1982. On March 23 1982 Guevara was removed from office and Montt became the head of state and the military on June 09, 1982. He then established a military tribunal with Generals Maldonato Schadd and Luis Gordillo, temporarily suspended the constitution and the legislature, and began a campaign of politically-motivated arrests of dissidents. It is reported that Montt’s regime frequently employed methods such as torture, kidnapping and assassination against his opposition. Although such tactics are deplorable, one point often ignored by critics of Montt is that the Sandinistas also employed the exact same atrocities against people in his regime.

Opposition to Montt in the rural areas was very strong due to Communist Sandinista backing, partially from Cuba, and he was forced to reckon with trying to quell numerous countryside rebellions. During his administration, he allegedly carried out a campaign of genocide against the indigenous Mayan population that resulted in an estimated 70,000 dead, the destruction of over 500 villages and thousands of Mayan refugees crossing into Mexico. Opponents of Montt claim that he purposely attacked the Mayans, while his supporters maintain that the Mayans were simply victims caught in the crossfire of the decades-long civil war in the country.

In January 1983, in exchange for selling Guatemala several million dollars of helicopter spare parts, Montt re-formed the Central American Defense Council to collaborate with El Salvador and Nicaragua to commence actions against the leftist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua.

Towards the end of Montt’s 18 month rule, his popularity began to wane. This was partially attributable to his religious differences with the Catholic majority in Guatemala and partially due to his institution of a value-added tax in Guatemala to attempt to increase government revenues. There was also much political in-fighting among the military hierarchy.

On 08 August, 1983, Montt was removed from office in a bloodless coup led by General Oscar Humberto Mejía Victores. Victores however took an even more hard-line stance on the civil war that was still brewing in the countryside in Guatemala and when peace was finally restored in 1996, 200,000 had died and 1,000,000 were reported homeless. Montt was instrumental in quelling the civil war in Guatemala and restoring peace to the country, but obviously at the cost of many lives.

Montt’s political influence never went away.

He tried to run for president in 1990, 1995, but he was not allowed due to a constitutional ban on former coup participants; this ban was later overturned. Between 1999 and January 2004, he was the president of the Congress of Guatemala. In 2003 he did run for president but was defeated, obtaining only 11% of the popular vote.

Opinions of Montt are very divided, with many supporting his very strong and autocratic style and many who absolutely despise him. Charges of genocide against Montt have been unsuccessful to date despite international pressure. His daughter married US-Congressman Jerry Weller of Illinois on 20 November 2004.

Article written by www.dictatorofthemonth.com

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efra%EDn_R%EDos_Montt