Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

voter turnout. Eligible voters ignored compulsory voting laws and either abstained from the
pools or refused to participate; 20% of those voting sabotaged their ballots, only 15% of eligible
voters participated in the election (Handy, 1984, 176). General Lucas was elected by 4.1% of the
populace. At the time of the election there were massive strikes in Guatemala related to price
increases in public transportation. President Lucas responded with prolonged repression and
political violence directed at a wide swath of the population.
The 1982 elections were besieged with violence before they had even begun; the two
candidates representing the United Revolutionary Front (FUR) were assassinated in January and
March of 1979 as they attempted to officially register their party. Despite having twice the
signatures needed to officially register a political party the FUR, a party made up of Social
Democrats, was denied official status for many years. The assassination of Fuentes Mohr and
Colom Argueta were only the beginning of the campaign against the FUR. By 1980 the Social
Democrats were all but disbanded and exiled due to prolonged political violence; the Christian
Democrats were in a similar situation. However, there were also growing divisions within the
military establishment, President Lucas and the more junior officers were increasingly at odds.
Significant problems with inadequate conscription, insufficient supplies, and rampant corruption
within the highest levels of the military, lead to the coup of President Lucas by junior level
officers in 1982. The catalyst for the coup was another fraudulent election in 1982 where the
selected PID candidate, General Angel Anibal Guevara, was elected. However, General Lucas
was removed before the new president could take power. General Montt bought out the other
members of the junta and took over the presidency, thus ending the reign of PID presidents.
General Montt was unconcerned by his non-democratic rise to office, he stated to the Guatemalan
nation on a radio broadcast in 1982 “Do you know why I am a true political leader? Because I
am here without your votes.” General Montt’s reign was brief and extremely violent; he was
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