Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Colonel
Carlos Arana Osorio
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Official portrait, 1970
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| 35th President of Guatemala | |
| In office July 1, 1970 – July 1, 1974 |
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| Vice President | Eduardo Cáceres |
| Preceded by | Julio César Méndez Montenegro |
| Succeeded by | Kjell Laugerud |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 17, 1918 Barberena, Santa Rosa, Guatemala |
| Died | December 6, 2003 (aged 85) Guatemala City, Guatemala |
| Political party | Movimiento de Liberación Nacional |
| Spouse | Alida España (died 1993) |
| Residence | Guatemala City |
| Occupation | Military |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Guatemala |
| Branch/service | Guatemalan Army |
| Rank | General |
Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio (July 17, 1918 – December 6, 2003) was a military officer and politician who served as president of Guatemala from 1970 to 1974. His government committed serious human rights violations and used state terrorism in its war against the guerrillas including government sponsored "death squads". The Guatemalan Human Rights Commission estimated that 20,000 Guatemalans were killed or "disappeared" under the Arana administration.
Early life
Arana was born in Barberena, in the department of Santa Rosa on July 17, 1918. He is the nephew of the former head of the Guatemalan armed forces, Francisco Javier Arana, who was one of the three members of the revolutionary junta that ruled Guatemala from 20 October 1944 to 15 March 1945 during the early part of the Guatemalan Revolution. Carlos Arana Osorio joined the military, becoming an officer. He was also an anti-communist politician and freemason. In 1955, he was appointed director of a Polytechnic School that was reopened by the government following the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état.
Military career
A colonel in the Army, Arana oversaw counterinsurgency efforts in Zacapa and Izabal, where thousands were killed by the military from 1966 to 1968.
Under Colonel Arana's jurisdiction, military strategists armed and fielded various paramilitary death squads to supplement regular army and police units in clandestine terror operations against the FAR's (Rebel Armed Forces, Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes) civilian support base. Personnel, weapons, funds and operational instructions were supplied to these organizations by the armed forces. The death squads operated with impunity – permitted by the government to kill any civilians deemed to be either insurgents or insurgent collaborators.
Observers estimate that government forces killed or "disappeared" as many as 15,000 civilians in three years of the Mendez presidency. Some observers referred to the policy of the Guatemalan government as "White Terror" -a term previously used to describe similar periods of anti-communist mass killing in countries such as Taiwan and Spain.
Presidency (1970–1974)
In July 1970, with support from the Army, colonel Carlos Arana Osorio assumed the presidency. He was the first of the string of Institutional Democratic Party military rulers who dominated Guatemalan politics in the 1970s and 1980s (his predecessor, Julio César Méndez, while dominated by the army, was nominally a civilian). Arana had served as the ambassador to Nicaragua during the Somoza regime. In a speech, President Arana stated, "If it is necessary to turn the country into a cemetery in order to pacify it, I will not hesitate to do so." Despite minimal armed insurgent activity at the time, Osorio imposed a "State of Siege" in November 1970. During the "State of Siege," the Osorio regime imposed a daily curfew from 9:00PM to 5:00AM, during which time all vehicle and pedestrian traffic—including ambulances, fire engines, nurses, and physicians—were forbidden throughout the national territory.
The "State of Siege" was accompanied by increased government repression in the form of abductions, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
The "State of Siege" remained in effect until the end of 1972, when the Osorio regime announced the military defeat of the insurgency. The end of the "State of Siege" coincided with the forced disappearance of much of the PGT's central committee. In the period between January and September 1973, the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission documented the deaths and forced disappearances of 1,314 individuals by government death squads. The repression led to the Guatemalan government being characterized by international human rights organizations as one of the world's most repressive regimes. Amnesty International mentioned Guatemala as one of several countries under a human rights state of emergency. The Guatemalan Human Rights Commission estimated 20,000 people killed or "disappeared" between 1970 and 1974 under the Arana government.
Later life
Following his presidency, he withdrew from political life and founded a political party, Central Auténtica Nacionalista (CAN). The party participated in several elections but had little impact. He died in December 2003.
See also
In Spanish: Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio para niños
