The Most Famous

POLITICIANS from Guatemala

This page contains a list of the greatest Guatemalan Politicians. The pantheon dataset contains 19,576 Politicians, 29 of which were born in Guatemala. This makes Guatemala the birth place of the 82nd most number of Politicians behind Nepal, and Cyprus.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Guatemalan Politicians of all time. This list of famous Guatemalan Politicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Guatemalan Politicians.

1. Jacobo Árbenz (1913 - 1971)

With an HPI of 62.64, Jacobo Árbenz is the most famous Guatemalan Politician. His biography has been translated into 48 different languages on wikipedia.

Juan Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán (Spanish: [xwaŋ xaˈkoβo ˈaɾβens ɣusˈman]; 14 September 1913 – 27 January 1971) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as the 25th president of Guatemala. He was Minister of National Defense from 1944 to 1950, before he became the second democratically elected President of Guatemala, from 1951 to 1954. He was a major figure in the ten-year Guatemalan Revolution, which represented some of the few years of representative democracy in Guatemalan history. The landmark program of agrarian reform Árbenz enacted as president was very influential across Latin America. Árbenz was born in 1913 to a wealthy family, son of a Swiss German father and a Guatemalan mother. He graduated with high honors from a military academy in 1935, and served in the army until 1944, quickly rising through the ranks. During this period, he witnessed the violent repression of agrarian laborers by the United States-backed dictator Jorge Ubico, and was personally required to escort chain-gangs of prisoners, an experience that contributed to his progressive views. In 1938, he met and married María Vilanova, who was a great ideological influence on him, as was José Manuel Fortuny, a Guatemalan communist. In October 1944, several civilian groups and progressive military factions led by Árbenz and Francisco Arana rebelled against Ubico's repressive policies. In the elections that followed, Juan José Arévalo was elected president, and began a highly popular program of social reform. Árbenz was appointed Minister of Defense, and played a crucial role in putting down a military coup in 1949. After the death of Arana, Árbenz ran in the presidential elections that were held in 1950 and without significant opposition defeated Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes, his nearest challenger, by a margin of over 50%. He took office on 15 March 1951, and continued the social reform policies of his predecessor. These reforms included an expanded right to vote, the ability of workers to organize, legitimizing political parties, and allowing public debate. The centerpiece of his policy was an agrarian reform law under which uncultivated portions of large land-holdings were expropriated in return for compensation and redistributed to poverty-stricken agricultural laborers. Approximately 500,000 people benefited from the decree. The majority of them were indigenous people, whose forebears had been dispossessed after the Spanish invasion. His policies ran afoul of the United Fruit Company, which lobbied the United States government to have him overthrown. The U.S. was also concerned by the presence of communists in the Guatemalan government, and Árbenz was ousted in the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état engineered by the government of U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower through the U.S. Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency. Árbenz went into exile through several countries, where his family gradually fell apart, and his daughter committed suicide. He died in Mexico in 1971. In October 2011, the Guatemalan government issued an apology for Árbenz's overthrow.

2. Efraín Ríos Montt (1926 - 2018)

With an HPI of 58.80, Efraín Ríos Montt is the 2nd most famous Guatemalan Politician. His biography has been translated into 38 different languages.

José Efraín Ríos Montt (Spanish: [efɾaˈin ˈrios ˈmont]; 16 June 1926 – 1 April 2018) was a Guatemalan military officer, politician, and dictator who served as de facto President of Guatemala from 1982 to 1983. His brief tenure as chief executive was one of the bloodiest periods in the long-running Guatemalan Civil War. Ríos Montt's counter-insurgency strategies significantly weakened the Marxist guerrillas organized under the umbrella of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) while also leading to accusations of war crimes and genocide perpetrated by the Guatemalan Army under his leadership. Ríos Montt was a career army officer. He was director of the Guatemalan military academy and rose to the rank of brigadier general. He was briefly chief of staff of the Guatemalan army in 1973. However, he was soon forced out of the position over differences with the military high command. He ran for president in the 1974 general election, losing to the official candidate, General Kjell Laugerud, in an electoral process widely regarded as fraudulent. In 1978, Ríos Montt controversially abandoned the Catholic Church and joined an Evangelical Christian group affiliated with the Gospel Outreach Church. In 1982, discontent with the rule of General Romeo Lucas García, the worsening security situation in Guatemala, and accusations of electoral fraud led to a coup d'état by a group of junior military officers who installed Ríos Montt as head of a government junta. Ríos Montt ruled as a military dictator for less than seventeen months before his defense minister, General Óscar Mejía Victores overthrew him in another coup. In 1989, Ríos Montt returned to the Guatemalan political scene as leader of a new political party, the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG). He was elected many times to the Congress of Guatemala, serving as president of the Congress in 1995–96 and 2000–04. A constitutional provision prevented him from registering as a presidential candidate due to his involvement in the military coup of 1982. However, the FRG obtained the presidency and a congressional majority in the 1999 general election. Authorized by the Constitutional Court to run in the 2003 presidential elections, Ríos Montt came in third and withdrew from politics. He returned to public life in 2007 as a member of Congress, thereby gaining legal immunity from long-running lawsuits alleging war crimes committed by him and some of his ministers and counselors during their term in the presidential palace in 1982–83. His immunity ended on 14 January 2012, when his legislative term of office expired. In 2013, a court sentenced Ríos Montt to 80 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity, but the Constitutional Court quashed that sentence, and his retrial was never completed.

3. Carlos Castillo Armas (1914 - 1957)

With an HPI of 57.01, Carlos Castillo Armas is the 3rd most famous Guatemalan Politician. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Carlos Castillo Armas (locally ['kaɾlos kas'tiʝo 'aɾmas]; 4 November 1914 – 26 July 1957) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who was the 28th president of Guatemala, serving from 1954 to 1957 after taking power in a coup d'état. A member of the right-wing National Liberation Movement (MLN) party, his authoritarian government was closely allied with the United States. Born to a planter, out of wedlock, Castillo Armas was educated at Guatemala's military academy. A protégé of Colonel Francisco Javier Arana, he joined Arana's forces during the 1944 uprising against President Federico Ponce Vaides. This began the Guatemalan Revolution and the introduction of representative democracy to the country. Castillo Armas joined the General Staff and became director of the military academy. Arana and Castillo Armas opposed the newly elected government of Juan José Arévalo; after Arana's failed 1949 coup, Castillo Armas went into exile in Honduras. Seeking support for another revolt, he came to the attention of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In 1950 he launched a failed assault on Guatemala City, before escaping back to Honduras. Influenced by lobbying by the United Fruit Company and Cold War fears of communism, in 1952 the US government of President Harry Truman authorized Operation PBFortune, a plot to overthrow Arévalo's successor, President Jacobo Árbenz. Castillo Armas was to lead the coup, but the plan was abandoned before being revived in a new form by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. In June 1954, Castillo Armas led 480 CIA-trained soldiers into Guatemala, backed by US-supplied aircraft. Despite initial setbacks to the rebel forces, US support for the rebels made the Guatemalan army reluctant to fight, and Árbenz resigned on 27 June. A series of military juntas briefly held power during negotiations that ended with Castillo Armas assuming the presidency on 7 July. Castillo Armas consolidated his power in an October 1954 election, in which he was the only candidate; the MLN, which he led, was the only party allowed to contest the congressional elections. Árbenz's popular agricultural reform was largely rolled back, with land confiscated from small farmers and returned to large landowners. Castillo Armas cracked down on unions and peasant organizations, arresting and killing thousands. He created a National Committee of Defense Against Communism, which investigated over 70,000 people and added 10 percent of the population to a list of suspected communists. Despite these efforts, Castillo Armas faced significant internal resistance, which was blamed on communist agitation. The government, plagued by corruption and soaring debt, became dependent on aid from the US. In 1957 Castillo Armas was assassinated by a presidential guard with leftist sympathies. He was the first of a series of authoritarian rulers in Guatemala who were close allies of the US. His reversal of the reforms of his predecessors sparked a series of leftist insurgencies in the country after his death, culminating in the Guatemalan Civil War of 1960 to 1996.

4. Alejandro Giammattei (b. 1956)

With an HPI of 56.80, Alejandro Giammattei is the 4th most famous Guatemalan Politician. His biography has been translated into 38 different languages.

Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei Falla (Spanish pronunciation: [aleˈxandɾo ʝamaˈtej]; born 9 March 1956) is a Guatemalan politician who served as the 51st president of Guatemala from 2020 to 2024. He is a former director of the Guatemalan penitentiary system and participated in Guatemala's presidential elections in 2007, 2011, and 2015. He won in the 2019 election, and assumed office on 14 January 2020.

5. Juan José Arévalo (1904 - 1990)

With an HPI of 55.15, Juan José Arévalo is the 5th most famous Guatemalan Politician. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Juan José Arévalo Bermejo (10 September 1904 – 8 October 1990) was a Guatemalan statesman and professor of philosophy who became Guatemala's first democratically elected president in 1945. He was elected following a popular uprising against the United States-backed dictator Jorge Ubico that began the Guatemalan Revolution. He remained in office until 1951, surviving 25 coup attempts. He did not contest the election of 1951, instead choosing to hand over power to Jacobo Árbenz. As president, he enacted several social reform policies, including an increase in the minimum wage and a series of literacy programs. He also oversaw the drafting of a new constitution in 1945. He is the father of the current President of Guatemala Bernardo Arévalo.

6. Jorge Ubico (1878 - 1946)

With an HPI of 54.93, Jorge Ubico is the 6th most famous Guatemalan Politician. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Jorge Ubico Castañeda (10 November 1878 – 14 June 1946), nicknamed Number Five or also Central America's Napoleon, was a Guatemalan military officer, politician, and dictator who served as the president of Guatemala from 1931 to 1944. A general in the Guatemalan military, he was elected to the presidency in 1931, in an election where he was the only candidate. He continued his predecessors' policies of giving massive concessions to the United Fruit Company and wealthy landowners, as well as supporting their harsh labor practices. Ubico has been described as "one of the most oppressive tyrants Guatemala has ever known" who compared himself to Adolf Hitler. He was removed by a pro-democracy uprising in 1944, which led to the ten-year Guatemalan Revolution.

7. Rafael Carrera (1814 - 1865)

With an HPI of 54.47, Rafael Carrera is the 7th most famous Guatemalan Politician. His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

José Rafael Carrera y Turcios (24 October 1814 – 14 April 1865) was the president of Guatemala from 1844 to 1848 and from 1851 until his death in 1865, after being appointed President for life in 1854. During his military career and presidency, new nations in Central America were facing numerous problems: William Walker's invasions, liberal attempts to overthrow the Catholic Church and aristocrats' power, the Civil War in the United States, Mayan uprising in the east, Belize boundary dispute with the United Kingdom, and the wars in Mexico under Benito Juárez. This led to a rise of caudillos, a term that refers to charismatic populist leaders among the indigenous people. Backed by the Catholic Church, conservatives of the Aycinena clan led by Juan José de Aycinena y Piñol, and mestizo and indigenous peasants, he dominated politics in the first three decades of Guatemala's independence more than any other individual. He led the revolt against the liberal state government of Mariano Gálvez in Guatemala, and then was instrumental in breaking up the Federal Republic of Central America that the liberals wanted. As a result, once the liberals took over power in Guatemala in 1871, Carrera's character and regime were dismissed and demonized, making him look as an illiterate who could not even write his own name and was a puppet of the aristocrats. Over the years, even Marxist writers who wanted to show how the native Guatemalans have been exploited by the elites completely ignored Carrera's interest in them and accused him of racism and being a "little king". Carrera was born on 24 October 1814 in the Candelaria barrio of Guatemala City towards the end of the Spanish colonial period. He was of humble origin, a mestizo and illiterate. He first worked as a farmhand. He enlisted in the army during the civil war, which lasted from 1826 to 1829. In 1835, he left the army and moved to Mataquescuintla where he married Petrona García and worked as a swineherd. By 1837, rural masses were voicing numerous grievances against the liberal government of Guatemala. Inexperienced in republican politics, the liberal leaders did not foresee the power of popular resistance and refused to change course. A cholera epidemic added to the frustration over grievances, led to panic, and helped Carrera rally the peasants into armed resistance. Strongly supported by the Church, Carrera became de facto ruler of much of Guatemala and led a large uprising of Indians and poor peasants of mixed race in the east and south of the country, an area known as The Mountain. The movement was strongly pro-Catholic and eager to restore many of the colonial religious institutions and traditions that the liberals had abandoned. Francisco Morazán repeatedly drove Carrera's forces out of cities and towns, but Carrera's followers would retake places as soon as Morazán's army left. For almost a decade, he was content being a military commander and enjoyed the respect of his followers. Even though they distrusted and despised him, the conservative criollos from the Aycinena Clan, decided to support Carrera in the hope of regaining the power and privileges that they had lost in 1829 after Morazán's invasion of Guatemala. Under the leadership of Juan José de Aycinena y Piñol the conservatives aimed to regain their place as Guatemala's elite from which the liberals had expelled them. Even though Carrera is often portrayed as a "guerrilla" leader, an analysis of his military campaigns between 1837 and 1840 shows that he utilized a method of fighting that can be more accurately described as hybrid warfare, a combination of guerrilla tactics and logistics with conventional combat operations. While his soldiers were not well equipped, their training in the local militias, going back to colonial times and the civil war that followed independence from Spain, enabled them to successfully fight conventional battles against the numerically superior forces of the Guatemalan and Federal governments. In 1838 the liberal forces of Morazán and José Francisco Barrundia invaded Guatemala and reached San Sur, where they executed Pascual García, Carrera's father-in-law. They impaled his head on a pike as a warning to all followers of the Guatemalan caudillo. On learning this, Carrera and his wife Petrona – who had come to confront Morazán as soon as they learned of the invasion and were in Mataquescuintla – swore they would never forgive Morazán even in his grave; they felt it impossible to respect anyone who would not avenge family members. After sending several envoys, whom Carrera would not receive – especially Barrundia whom Carrera did not want to murder in cold blood – Morazán began a scorched earth offensive, destroying villages in his path and stripping them of their few assets. The Carrera forces had to hide in the mountains . Believing that Carrera was totally defeated, Morazán and Barrundia marched on to Guatemala City, where they were welcomed as saviors by the state governor Pedro Valenzuela and members of the conservative Aycinena Clan, who proposed to sponsor one of the liberal battalions, while Valenzuela and Barrundia gave Morazán all the Guatemalan resources needed to solve any financial problem he had. The criollos of both parties celebrated until dawn that they finally had a criollo caudillo like Morazán, who was able to crush the peasant rebellion. Morazán used the proceeds to support Los Altos and then replaced Valenzuela by Mariano Rivera Paz, member of the Aycinena clan, although he did not return to that clan any property confiscated in 1829; in revenge, Juan José de Aycinena y Piñol voted for the dissolution of the Central American Federation in San Salvador a little later, forcing Morazán to return to El Salvador to fight to save his federal mandate. Along the way, Morazán increased repression in eastern Guatemala, as punishment for helping Carrera. Knowing that Morazán had gone to El Salvador, Carrera tried to take Salamá with the small force that remained, but was defeated, losing his brother Laureano in the combat. With just a few men left, he managed to escape, badly wounded, to Sanarate. Under conventional warfare conditions, this defeat would have ended Carrera's military campaign. However, by this time the young commander had already become accustomed to disassemble and regroup, not just after defeats but also after victories. Carrera's pursuit of a military approach that combined alternately guerrilla and conventional warfare enabled him to reconstitute his forces while keeping some degree of pressure on the government. Without any permanent means of financing the struggle, Carrera was able to bring together large forces for significant operations, and then send his soldiers back to their farms after engagement. The government, on the other hand, had to spend precious resources fielding permanent forces. After recovering to some extent, he attacked a detachment in Jutiapa and managed to get a small amount of booty which he handed to the volunteers who accompanied him and prepared to attack Petapa – near Guatemala City – where he was victorious, though with heavy casualties. In September of that year, he attempted an assault on the capital of Guatemala, but the liberal general Carlos Salazar Castro defeated him in the fields of Villa Nueva and Carrera had to retreat. After an unsuccessful attempt to take the Quetzaltenango, Carrera was surrounded and wounded, and he had to capitulate to the Mexican General Agustin Guzman, who had been in Quetzaltenango since the time of Vicente Filísola's arrival in 1823. Morazán had the opportunity to shoot Carrera, but did not because he needed the support of the Guatemalan peasants to counter the attacks of Francisco Ferrera in El Salvador; instead, Morazán left Carrera in charge of a small fort in Mita, and without any weapons. Knowing that Morazán was going to attack El Salvador, Francisco Ferrera gave arms and ammunition to Carrera and convinced him to attack Guatemala City. Meanwhile, despite insistent advice to definitely crush Carrera and his forces, Salazar tried to negotiate with him diplomatically; he even went as far as to show that he neither feared nor distrusted Carrera by removing the fortifications of the Guatemalan capital, in place in since the battle of Villa Nueva. Taking advantage of Salazar's good faith and Ferrera's weapons, Carrera took Guatemala City by surprise on April 13, 1839; Castro Salazar, Mariano Gálvez and Barrundia fled before the arrival of Carrera's militia men. Salazar, in his nightshirt, vaulted roofs of neighboring houses and sought refuge; reaching the border disguised as a peasant. With Salazar gone, Carrera reinstated Rivera Paz as Head of State of Guatemala. On April 2, 1838, in the city of Quetzaltenango, a secessionist group founded the independent State of Los Altos which sought independence from Guatemala. The most important members of the Liberal Party of Guatemala and liberal enemies of the conservative regime moved to Los Altos, leaving their exile in El Salvador. The liberals in Los Altos began severely criticizing the Conservative government of Rivera Paz; they had their own newspaper – El Popular, which contributed to the harsh criticism. Moreover, Los Altos was the region with the main production and economic activity of the former state of Guatemala; without Los Altos, conservatives lost much of the resources that had given Guatemala hegemony in Central America. Then, the government of Guatemala tried to reach to a peaceful solution, but altenses, protected by the recognition of the Central American Federation Congress, did not accept; Guatemala's government then resorted to force, sending Carrera as commanding general of the Army to subdue Los Altos. Carrera defeated General Agustin Guzman when the former Mexican officer tried to ambush him and then went on to Quetzaltenango, where he imposed a harsh and hostile conservative regime instead of the liberals. Calling all council members, he told them flatly that he was behaving leniently towards them as it was the first time they had challenged him, but sternly warned them that there would be no mercy if there was a second time. Finally, Guzmán, and the head of state of Los Altos, Marcelo Molina, were sent to the capital of Guatemala, where they were displayed as trophies of war during a triumphant parade on February 17, 1840; in the case of Guzman, shackled, still with bleeding wounds, and riding a mule. On March 18, 1840, liberal caudillo Morazán invaded Guatemala with 1500 soldiers to avenge the insult done in Los Altos. Fearing that such action would end with liberal efforts to hold together the Central American Federation, Guatemala had a cordon of guards from the border with El Salvador; without a telegraph service, men ran carrying last-minute messages. With the information from these messengers, Carrera hatched a plan of defense leaving his brother Sotero in charge of troops who presented only slight resistance in the city. Carrera pretended to flee and led his ragtag army to the heights of Aceituno, with few men, few rifles and two old cannons. The city was at the mercy of the army of Morazán, with bells of the twenty churches ringing for divine assistance. Once Morazán reached the capital, he took it easily and freed Guzman, who immediately left for Quetzaltenango to give the news that Carrera was defeated; Carrera then, taking advantage of what his enemies believed, applied a strategy of concentrating fire on the Central Park of the city and also employed surprise attack tactics which caused heavy casualties to the army of Morazán, finally forcing the survivors to fight for their lives. Morazán's soldiers lost the initiative and their previous numerical superiority. Furthermore, in unfamiliar surroundings in the city, they had to fight, carry their dead and care for their wounded while resentful and tired from the long march from El Salvador to Guatemala. Carrera, by then an experienced military man, was able to defeat Morazán thoroughly. The disaster for the liberal general was complete: aided by Angel Molina who knew the streets of the city, had to flee with his favorite men, disguised, shouting "Long live Carrera!" through the ravine of El Incienso to El Salvador. In his absence, Morazán had been supplanted as Head of State of his country, and had to embark for exile in Perú. In Guatemala, survivors from his troops were shot without mercy, while Carrera was out in unsuccessful pursuit of Morazan. This engagement sealed the status of Carrera and marked the decline of Morazán, and forced the conservative Aycinena clan criollos to negotiate with Carrera and his peasant revolutionary supporters. Guzmán, who was freed by Morazán when the latter had seemingly defeated Carrera in Guatemala City, had gone back to Quetzaltenango to bring the good news. The city liberal criollo leaders rapidly reinstated the Los Altos State and celebrated Morazán's victory. However, as soon as Carrera and the newly reinstated Mariano Rivera Paz heard the news, Carrera went back to Quetzaltenango with his volunteer army to regain control of the rebel liberal state once and for all. On April 2, 1840, after entering the city, Carrera told the citizens that he had already warned them after he defeated them earlier that year. Then, he ordered the majority of the liberal city hall officials from Los Altos to be shot. Carrera then forcibly annexed Quetzaltenango and much of Los Altos back into conservative Guatemala. After the violent and bloody reinstatement of the State of Los Altos by Carrera in April 1840, Luis Batres Juarros – conservative member of the Aycinena Clan, then secretary general of the Guatemalan government of recently reinstated Mariano Rivera Paz – obtained from the vicar Larrazabal authorization to dismantle the regionalist Church. Serving priests of Quetzaltenango – capital of the would-be-state of Los Altos, Urban Ugarte and his coadjutor, José Maria Aguilar, were removed from their parish and likewise the priests of the parishes of San Martin Jilotepeque and San Lucas Tolimán. Larrazabal ordered the priests Fernando Antonio Dávila, Mariano Navarrete and Jose Ignacio Iturrioz to cover the parishes of Quetzaltenango, San Martin Jilotepeque and San Lucas Toliman, respectively. The liberal criollos' defeat and execution in Quetzaltenango enhanced Carrera's status with the native population of the area, whom he respected and protected. In 1840, Belgium began to act as an external source of support for Carrera's independence movement, in an effort to exert influence in Central America. The Compagnie belge de colonisation (Belgian Colonization Company), commissioned by Belgian King Leopold I, became the administrator of Santo Tomas de Castilla in Izabal replacing the failed British Eastern Coast of Central America Commercial and Agricultural Company. Even though the colony eventually crumbled due to the endemic diseases that plagued the area, Belgium continued to support Carrera in the mid-19th century, although Britain continued to be the main business and political partner to Carrera's regime. Rafael Carrera was appointed president in 1844 and on March 21, 1847, by executive order declared Guatemala an independent republic, becoming its first president. In Yucatán, then an independent republic north of Guatemala, a war started between the natives and the mestizo and criollo populations; this war seemed rooted in the defense of communal lands against the expansion of private ownership, which was accentuated by the boom in the production of henequén, which was an important industrial fiber used to make rope. After discovering the value of the plant, the wealthier Yucateco criollos (local-born Spaniards) started plantations, beginning in 1833, to cultivate it on a large scale; not long after the henequen boom, a boom in sugar production led to more wealth. The sugar and henequén plantations encroached on native communal land, and native workers recruited to work on the plantations were mistreated and underpaid. However, rebel leaders in their correspondence with British Honduras (Belize) were more often inclined to cite taxation as the immediate cause of the war; Jacinto Pat, for example, wrote in 1848 that "what we want is liberty and not oppression, because before we were subjugated with the many contributions and taxes that they imposed on us." Pac's companion, Cecilio Chi added in 1849, that promises made by the rebel Santiago Imán, that he was "liberating the Indians from the payment of contributions" as a reason for resisting the central government, but in fact he continued levying them. In June 1847, Méndez learned that a large force of armed natives and supplies had gathered at the Culumpich, a property owned by Jacinto Pat, the Maya batab (leader), near Valladolid. Fearing revolt, Mendez arrested Manuel Antonio Ay, the principal Maya leader of Chichimilá, accused of planning a revolt, and executed him at the town square of Valladolid. Furthermore, Méndez searching for other insurgents burned the town of Tepich and repressed its residents. In the following months, several Maya towns were sacked and many people arbitrarily killed. In his letter of 1849, Cecilio Chi noted that Santiago Mendez had come to "put every Indian, big and little, to death" but that the Maya had responded to some degree, in kind, writing "it has pleased God and good fortune that a much greater portion of them [whites] than of the Indians [have died]. Cecilio Chi, the native leader of Tepich, along with Jacinto Pat attacked Tepich on 30 July 1847, in reaction to the indiscriminate massacre of Mayas, ordered that all the non-Maya population be killed. By spring of 1848, the Maya forces had taken over most of the Yucatán, with the exception of the walled cities of Campeche and Mérida and the south-west coast, with Yucatecan troops holding the road from Mérida to the port of Sisal. The Yucatecan governor Miguel Barbachano had prepared a decree for the evacuation of Mérida, but was apparently delayed in publishing it by the lack of suitable paper in the besieged capital. The decree became unnecessary when the republican troops suddenly broke the siege and took the offensive with major advances. Governor Barbachano sought allies anywhere he could find them, in Cuba (for Spain), Jamaica (for the United Kingdom) and the United States, but none of these foreign powers would intervene, although the matter was taken seriously enough in the United States to be debated in Congress. Subsequently, therefore, he turned to Mexico, and accepted a return to Mexican authority. Yucatán was officially reunited with Mexico on 17 August 1848. Yucateco forces rallied, aided by fresh guns, money, and troops from Mexico, and pushed back the natives from more than half of the state. By 1850, the natives occupied two distinct regions in the southeast and they were inspired to continue the struggle by the apparition of the "Talking Cross". This apparition, believed to be a way in which God communicated with the Maya, dictated that the War continue. Chan Santa Cruz, or Small Holy Cross became the religious and political center of the Maya resistance and the rebellion came to be infused with religious significance. Chan Santa Cruz also became the name of the largest of the independent Maya states, as well as the name of the capital city which is now the city of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo. The followers of the Cross were known as the "Cruzob". The government of Yucatán first declared the war over in 1855, but hopes for peace were premature. There were regular skirmishes, and occasional deadly major assaults into each other's territory, by both sides. The United Kingdom recognized the Chan Santa Cruz Maya as a "de facto" independent nation, in part because of the major trade between Chan Santa Cruz and British Honduras. During the first term as president, Carrera had brought the country back from extreme conservatism to a traditional moderation and kept a stable relationship among the natives, the criollos—who at the time were terrified of the Caste War in Yucatán—and himself; but in 1848, the liberals were able to drive him from office, after the country had been in turmoil for several months. Carrera resigned of his own free will and left for México. The new liberal regime allied itself with the Aycinena family and swiftly passed a law ordering Carrera's execution if he dared to return to Guatemalan soil. The liberal criollos from Quetzaltenango were led by general Agustín Guzmán who occupied the city after Corregidor general Mariano Paredes was called to Guatemala City to take over the presidential office. They declared on 26 August 1848 that Los Altos was an independent state once again. The new state had the support of Vasconcelos' regime in El Salvador and the rebel guerrilla army of Vicente and Serapio Cruz who were sworn enemies of Carrera. The interim government was led by Guzmán himself and had Florencio Molina and the priest Fernando Davila as his Cabinet members. On 5 September 1848, the criollos altenses chose a formal government led by Fernando Antonio Martínez. In the meantime, Carrera decided to return to Guatemala and did so entering by Huehuetenango, where he met with the native leaders and told them that they must remain united to prevail; the leaders agreed and slowly the segregated native communities started developing a new Indian identity under Carrera's leadership. In the meantime, in the eastern part of Guatemala, the Jalapa region became increasingly dangerous; former president Mariano Rivera Paz and rebel leader Vicente Cruz were both murdered there after trying to take over the Corregidor office in 1849. When Carrera arrived to Chiantla in Huehuetenango, he received two altenses emissaries who told him that their soldiers were not going to fight his forces because that would lead to a native revolt, much like that of 1840; their only request from Carrera was to keep the natives under control. The altenses did not comply, and led by Guzmán and his forces, they started chasing Carrera; the caudillo hid helped by his native allies and remained under their protection when the forces of Miguel Garcia Granados – who arrived from Guatemala City were looking for him. On learning that officer José Víctor Zavala had been appointed as Corregidor in Suchitepéquez, Carrera and his hundred jacalteco bodyguards crossed a dangerous jungle infested with jaguars to meet his former friend. When they met, Zavala not only did not capture him, but agreed to serve under his orders, thus sending a strong message to both liberal and conservatives in Guatemala City that they would have to negotiate with Carrera or battle on two fronts – Quetzaltenango and Jalapa. Carrera went back to the Quetzaltenango area, while Zavala remained in Suchitepéquez as a tactical maneuver. Carrera received a visit from a Cabinet member of Paredes and told him that he had control of the native population and that he assured Paredes that he would keep them appeased. When the emissary returned to Guatemala City, he told the president everything Carrera said, and added that the native forces were formidable. Guzmán went to Antigua Guatemala to meet with another group of Paredes emissaries; they agreed that Los Altos would rejoin Guatemala, and that the latter would help Guzmán defeat his hated enemy and also build a port on the Pacific Ocean. Guzmán was sure of victory this time, but his plan evaporated when, in his absence, Carrera and his native allies had occupied Quetzaltenango; Carrera appointed Ignacio Yrigoyen as Corregidor and convinced him that he should work with the k'iche', mam, q'anjobal and mam leaders to keep the region under control. On his way out, Yrigoyen murmured to a friend: Now he is the King of the Indians, indeed! Guzmán then left for Jalapa, where he struck a deal with the rebels, while Luis Batres Juarros convinced president Paredes to deal with Carrera. Back in Guatemala City within a few months, Carrera was commander-in-chief, backed by military and political support of the Indian communities from the densely populated western highlands. During the first presidency from 1844 to 1848, he brought the country back from excessive conservatism to a moderate regime, and – with the advice of Juan José de Aycinena y Piñol and Pedro de Aycinena – restored relations with the Church in Rome with a Concordat ratified in 1854. After Carrera returned from exile in 1849, Vasconcelos granted asylum to the Guatemalan liberals, who harassed the Guatemalan government in several different forms: José Francisco Barrundia did it through a liberal newspaper established with that specific goal; Vasconcelos gave support during a whole year to a rebel faction "La Montaña", in eastern Guatemala, providing and distributing money and weapons. By late 1850, Vasconcelos was getting impatient at the slow progress of the war with Guatemala and decided to plan an open attack. Under that circumstance, the Salvadorean head of state started a campaign against the conservative Guatemalan regime, inviting Honduras and Nicaragua to participate in the alliance; only the Honduran government led by Juan Lindo accepted. Meanwhile, in Guatemala, where the invasion plans were perfectly well known, President Mariano Paredes started taking precautions to face the situation, while the Guatemalan Archbishop, Francisco de Paula García Peláez, ordered peace prayers in the archdiocese. On 4 January 1851, Doroteo Vasconcelos and Juan Lindo met in Ocotepeque, Honduras, where they signed an alliance against Guatemala. The Salvadorean army had 4,000 men, properly trained and armed and supported by artillery; the Honduran army numbered 2,000 men. The coalition army was stationed in Metapán, El Salvador, due to its proximity with both the Guatemalan and Honduran borders. On 28 January 1851, Vasconcelos sent a letter to the Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Relations, in which he demanded that the Guatemalan president relinquish power, so that the alliance could designate a new head of state loyal to the liberals and that Carrera be exiled, escorted to any of the Guatemalan southern ports by a Salvadorean regiment. The Guatemalan government did not accept the terms and the Allied army entered Guatemalan territory at three different places. On 29 January, a 500-man contingent entered through Piñuelas, Agua Blanca and Jutiapa, led by General Vicente Baquero, but the majority of the invading force marched from Metapán. The Allied army was composed of 4,500 men led by Vasconcelos, as Commander in Chief. Other commanders were the generals José Santos Guardiola, Ramón Belloso, José Trinidad Cabañas and Gerardo Barrios. Guatemala was able to recruit 2,000 men, led by Lieutenant General Carrera as Commander in Chief, with several colonels. Carrera's strategy was to feign a retreat, forcing the enemy forces to follow the "retreating" troops to a place he had previously chosen; on February 1, 1851, both armies were facing each other with only the San José river between them. Carrera had fortified the foothills of La Arada, its summit about 50 metres (160 ft) above the level of the river. A meadow 300 metres (980 ft) deep lay between the hill and the river, and boarding the meadow was a sugar cane plantation. Carrera divided his army in three sections: the left wing was led by Cerna and Solares; the right wing led by Bolaños. He personally led the central battalion, where he placed his artillery. Five hundred men stayed in Chiquimula to defend the city and to aid in a possible retreat, leaving only 1,500 Guatemalans against an enemy of 4,500. The battle began at 8:30 AM, when Allied troops initiated an attack at three different points, with an intense fire opened by both armies. The first Allied attack was repelled by the defenders of the foothill; during the second attack, the Allied troops were able to take the first line of trenches. They were subsequently expelled. During the third attack, the Allied force advanced to a point where it was impossible to distinguish between Guatemalan and Allied troops. Then, the fight became a melée, while the Guatemalan artillery severely punished the invaders. At the height of the battle when the Guatemalans faced an uncertain fate, Carrera ordered that sugar cane plantation around the meadow to be set on fire. The invading army was now surrounded: to the front, they faced the furious Guatemalan firepower, to the flanks, a huge blaze and to the rear, the river, all of which made retreat very difficult. The central division of the Allied force panicked and started a disorderly retreat. Soon, all of the Allied troops started retreating. The 500 men of the rearguard pursued what was left of the Allied army, which desperately fled for the borders of their respective countries. The final count of the Allied losses were 528 dead, 200 prisoners, 1,000 rifles, 13,000 rounds of ammunition, many pack animals and baggage, 11 drums and seven artillery pieces. Vasconcelos sought refuge in El Salvador, while two Generals mounted on the same horse were seen crossing the Honduran border. Carrera regrouped his army and crossed the Salvadorean border, occupying Santa Ana, before he received orders from the Guatemalan President, Mariano Paredes, to return to Guatemala, since the Allies were requesting a cease-fire and a peace treaty. An enthusiastic fan of opera, and following the advice of his mistress – Josefa Silva's-, Carrera started the construction of a massive National Theater that was called «Carrera Theater» in his honor, and was located in the old Central Square. The Old Central Square was located to the northeast side of Guatemala City – then not larger than a village – and in 1776 was used to place the first block of the new Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción after the 1773 earthquakes destroy Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala. The place had been chosen as the new city Central Square, saving the surroundings for the new Cathedral, Palace and houses for the richest families of the time, the Aycinena family, given that the family leader, Fermín de Aycinena, contributed considerably to the move of the city from its old place. However, the design approved by the Spanish crown had the Central Square in a different location, and this one became the Old Central Square. Years later it became a commercial site and on August 6, 1832, then State of Guatemala Governor, Dr. Mariano Gálvez, issued a decree to build a theater in the Old Central Square site. However, political climate was very tense in the country and when the civil war between liberal and conservative parties escalated, Gálvez was overthrown and the theater could not be built. The project was revisited in 1852, when Juan Matheu and Manuel Francisco Pavón Aycinena presented Carrera with a new plan. Once approved, Carrera commissioned Matheu himself and Miguel Ruiz de Santisteban to build the theater. Initially it was in charge of engineer Miguel Rivera Maestre, but he quit after a few months and was replaced by German expert José Beckers, who built the Greek façades and added a lobby. This was the first monumental building ever built in the Republican era of Guatemala, a sign that in the 1850s the country was finally enjoying some peace and prosperity. The Concordat of 1854 was an international treaty between Carrera and the Holy See, signed in 1852 and ratified by both parties in 1854. Through this, Guatemala gave the education of Guatemalan people to regular orders of the Catholic Church, committed to respect ecclesiastical property and monasteries, imposed mandatory tithing and allowed the bishops to censor what was published in the country; in return, Guatemala received dispensations for the members of the army, allowed those who had acquired the properties that the liberals had expropriated from the Church in 1829 to keep those properties, received the taxes generated by the properties of the Church, and had the right to judge certain crimes committed by clergy under Guatemalan law. The concordat was designed by Juan José de Aycinena y Piñol and not only reestablished but reinforced the relationship between Church and State in Guatemala. It was in force until the fall of the conservative government of Field Marshal Vicente Cerna y Cerna. In 1854, by anti-democratic initiative of Manuel Francisco Pavón Aycinena, Carrera was declared "supreme and perpetual leader of the nation" for life, with the power to choose his successor. He was in that position until he died on April 14, 1865. While he pursued some measures to set up a foundation for economic prosperity to please the conservative landowners, military challenges at home and in a three-year war with Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua dominated his presidency. His rivalry with Gerardo Barrios, President of El Salvador, resulted in the War of 1863. At Coatepeque the Guatemalans suffered a severe defeat, which was followed by a truce. Honduras joined with El Salvador, and Nicaragua and Costa Rica with Guatemala. The contest was finally settled in favor of Carrera, who besieged and occupied San Salvador, and dominated Honduras and Nicaragua. He continued to act in concert with the Clerical Party, and tried to maintain friendly relations with the European governments. Before his death, Carrera nominated his friend and loyal soldier, Army Marshall Vicente Cerna y Cerna, as his successor. The Belize region in the Yucatán Peninsula was long occupied by the Maya peoples but neglected by Spain and Guatemala, even though Spain made some exploratory expeditions in the 16th century that serve as her basis to claim the area as hers; Guatemala simply inherited that argument to claim the territory, even they never sent any expedition to the area after the Independence from Spain in 1821, due to the Central American civil war that ensued and lasted until 1860. On the other hand, slaves escaped from Caribbean island and pirates had set a small settlement there since middle of the 17th century, mainly as buccaneers quarters and then for fine wood production; the settlements were never recognized as British colonies, even though they were somewhat under the jurisdiction of the Jamaican British government. In the 18th century, Belize became the main smuggling center for Central America, even though the British accepted Spanish sovereignty over the region by means of treaties in 1783 and 1786, in exchange for a ceasefire and the authorization for the Britons to work with the precious woods from Belize. After the Central America independence from Spain in 1821, Belize became the leading edge of the commercial entrance of Britain in the isthmus; British commercial brokers established themselves there and began prosper commercial routes with the Caribbean harbors of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. When Carrera came to power in 1840, stopped the complaints over Belize, and established a Guatemalan consulate in the region to oversee the Guatemalan interests in that important commercial location. Belize commerce was booming in the region until 1855, when the Colombians built a transoceanic railway, which allowed commerce to flow more efficiently to the port at the Pacific; from then on, Belize commercial importance began a steep decline. When the Caste War of Yucatán began in the Yucatán Peninsula-native people raising that results in thousands of murdered European settlers- the Belize and Guatemala representatives were in high alert; Yucatan refugees fled into both Guatemala and Belize and even Belize superintendent came to fear that Carrera -given his strong alliance with Guatemalan natives- could be support the native risings in Central America. In the 1850s, the British showed their good will to settle the territorial differences with the Central American countries: they withdrew from the Mosquito Coast in Nicaragua and began talks that would end up in the restoration of the territory to Nicaragua in 1894: returned the Bay Islands to Honduras and even negotiated with the American filibuster William Walker in an effort to avoid the invasion of Honduras. They also signed a treaty about with Guatemala about Belize borders, which has been called by Guatemalans as the worst mistake made by the unelected regime of Rafael Carrera-. Pedro de Aycinena y Piñol, as Foreign Secretary, had made an extra effort to keep good relations with the British crown. In 1859, William Walker's threat loomed again over Central America; in order to get the weapons needed to face the filibuster, Carrera's regime had to come to terms about Belize with the British Empire. On 30 April 1859, the Wyke-Aycinena treaty was signed, between the British and Guatemalan representatives. The controversial Wyke-Aycinena from 1859 had two parts: The first six articles clearly defined the Guatemala-Belize border: Guatemala acknowledged sovereignty of the United Kingdom over the Belize territory. The seventh article was about the construction of a road between Belize City and Guatemala City, which would be of mutual benefic, as Belize needed a way to communicate with the Pacific coast of Guatemala, having lost its commercial relevance after the construction of the transoceanic railroad in Panama in 1855; on the other hand, Guatemala needed a road to improve communication with its Atlantic coast. However, the road was never built; first because Guatemalan and Belizeans could not reach an agreement of the exact location for the road, and later because the conservatives lost power in Guatemala in 1871, and the liberal government declared the treaty void. Among those who signed the treaty was José Milla y Vidaurre, who worked with Aycinena in the Foreign Ministry at the time. Rafael Carrera ratified the treaty on 1 May 1859, while Charles Lennox Wyke, British consul in Guatemala, travelled to Great Britain and got the royal approval on 26 September 1859. there were some protests coming from the American consul, Beverly Clarke, and some liberal representatives, but the issue was settled. Rafael Carrera died in office April 14, 1865. Carrera did not significantly enhance the life of rural Indians, but he delayed the destruction of their culture that characterized the liberals' capitalist developments. Carrera's regime established the foundations of all following government, including "economic control by unified elites, the military as the Latinos' means of social mobility, and even the alienation of Indian land and labor." His success was the result of his military brilliance, charisma, and his ability to quickly identify core issues and problems. His rule may have been arbitrary and severe, but not more so than that of other Latin American leaders. Pope Pius IX awarded Carrera the Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1854. One year after his death, coins were issued in his honor with his face and the title: “Founder of the Republic of Guatemala.” Guatemala portal Biography portal Politics portal Francisco Morazán History of Guatemala History of Central America Mariano Rivera Paz Biography on Catholic Encyclopedia Hamill, Hugh (ed.) Caudillos: Dictators in Spanish America. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. The Poverty of Progress: Latin America in the Nineteenth Century by E. Bradford Burns Biography of Rafael Carrera Archived 2014-03-19 at the Wayback Machine Rafael Carrera correspondence in the William J. Griffith Guatemala Collection of Manuscripts (MS 187) at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas

8. Otto Pérez Molina (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 53.89, Otto Pérez Molina is the 8th most famous Guatemalan Politician. His biography has been translated into 44 different languages.

Otto Fernando Pérez Molina (born December 1, 1950) is a Guatemalan politician and retired general who served as the 48th president of Guatemala from 2012 to 2015. Standing as the Patriotic Party (Partido Patriota) candidate, he lost the 2007 presidential election but prevailed in the 2011 presidential election. During the 1990s, before entering politics, he served as Director of Military Intelligence, Presidential Chief of Staff under President Ramiro de León Carpio, and as the chief representative of the military for the Guatemalan Peace Accords. On being elected President, he called for the legalization of drugs. On September 2, 2015, beset by corruption allegations and having been stripped of his immunity by Congress the day earlier, Pérez presented his resignation. He was arrested on September 3, 2015. Following his arrest, Pérez remained in prison until he was released on bond in January 2024; prior to his release, Pérez received convictions and jail sentences in 2022 and 2023.

9. Álvaro Colom (1951 - 2023)

With an HPI of 53.78, Álvaro Colom is the 9th most famous Guatemalan Politician. His biography has been translated into 41 different languages.

Álvaro Colom Caballeros (Spanish: [ˈalβaɾo koˈlon]; 15 June 1951 – 23 January 2023) was a Guatemalan engineer, businessman, and politician who served as the 47th president of Guatemala from 2008 to 2012, as well as the General-Secretary of the political party, National Unity of Hope (UNE). Colom was born in Guatemala City on 15 June 1951 to Antonio Colom Argueta and Yolanda Caballeros Ferraté; he was the fourth of five siblings. His uncle, Manuel Colom, was mayor of Guatemala City between 1970 and 1974 and was killed by the military in 1979. He attended primary and high school at the private Catholic educational institution of Liceo Guatemala and later revealed that he considered entering a seminary. Colom began his career in industrial engineering at the Universidad de San Carlos (USAC), graduating in 1974 and taught in the Faculty of Engineering between 1975 and 1977. Colom then became a businessman involved in various of businesses, especially in the textile sector. Following the devastating earthquake of 1976, Colom launched hundreds of small businesses in the affected rural areas, an action that was praised by the population. In 1977, Colom became a member of the Chamber of Industry of Guatemala, assuming the leadership of the Apparel and Textile Commission, and the Advisory Council of the Trade Association of Exporters of Non-Traditional Products (AGEXPRONT). Five years later, in 1982, he was appointed member of the Board of Directors of AGEXPRONT, of which he was elected Vice President in 1990. With the recovery of democracy in 1986, Colom expanded his business, achieving a notoriety that allowed him to approach political circles. During this period, he founded the companies Roprisma, Intraexsa, and Grupo Mega. With the accession of Jorge Serrano Elías to the presidency of Guatemala, Colom was appointed Vice Minister of Economy in January 1991 and, in June of that year, Serrano appointed him Executive Director of the National Fund for Peace (FONAPAZ), gaining prominence by managing the situation of refugees in Mexico fleeing the civil war and the development of rural communities during the negotiation of the Peace Accords with the guerrilla formation, the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG). In 1996, the National Council of Mayan Elders named him "bridge man with the Western world," being invested with the attributes of a Mayan priest, one of the most important forms of recognition by the Mayan people. During this period, Colom also participated in the creation of the Guatemalan Social Investment Fund (FIS) and the Guatemalan Indigenous Development Fund (FODIGUA). In April 1997, months after the signing of the Firm and Lasting Peace Accords between the government of Álvaro Arzú and the URNG to end the civil war, Arzú dismissed him as executive director of FONAPAZ. Colom soon became an advisor to the Peace Secretariat (SEPAZ) and executive director of the Presidential Unit for Legal Assistance and Land Conflict Resolution (CONTIERRA). In 1999, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Analysis and Development (FADES) and became Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Economics of Rafael Landívar University. Following these accords, the URNG forged the center-left coalition with Authentic Integral Development and Unidad de la Izquierda Democrática (UNID). Although Colom did not have much in common with the revolutionaries, instead considered a moderate progressive in his ideology, he was selected by that coalition on 22 April 1999 as a candidate for the presidential elections of November that year. His running mate was Vitalino Similox, and the coalition achieved only 12.3% of the votes, coming in at third place. Colom left the coalition in the fall of 2000 after entering into a dispute with its members and, together with several deputies, founded the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party. In March and April 2002, Colom co-led the Movimiento Cívico por Guatemala, a signature-gathering campaign to demand the resignation of President Alfonso Portillo and his vice president Juan Francisco Reyes, accused in a corruption case. On 1 June 2003, he was proclaimed UNE's candidate for the 2003 Guatemalan general election, with conservative Fernando Andrade Díaz-Durán as his vice president candidate. In his electoral program, he presented policies that prioritized health care for the most vulnerable, the schooling of infants, the defense of comprehensive public security in particular, the creation of 200,000 jobs, and the abolition of the Tax on Commercial and Agricultural Enterprises (IEMA). In the first round of the elections Colom won second place, after Óscar Berger, acquiring 26.4% of the vote. In the second round, which took place on 28 December, he received 45.9% of the vote but did not win the election. On 6 May 2007, the UNE National Assembly proclaimed Colom a presidential candidate and selected José Rafael Espada as the vice-presidential candidate to face Otto Pérez Molina. The polls were favorable, and the UNE was, at the time, the party with the most militants in the country. Among the measures of his electoral program, they highlighted the commitment to reduce the number of deputies to 60 or 75, not to raise taxes, to fight against tax evasion, to strengthen the power of the municipalities, to restructure the Army in accordance with the peace agreements, to convene a fiscal pact, to promote a program of infant and primary education, to build 200,000 public housing units, and to reduce the rate of crime in the country with "intelligence." The electoral campaign was rocked by the worst episode of political violence in Guatemala's history, with at least 50 people killed. He was one of the two candidates to reach the second round of the 2007 presidential election on 9 September 2007, along with Partido Patriota candidate Otto Pérez Molina, after winning 27% of the votes. The second round took place on 4 November with low turnout. At 10:00 p.m. local time on election night, Colom was declared the newly elected president by over five percentage points, 52.7% to 47.3%, with over 96% of polling places counted. He became the first leftist president to be elected in recent Guatemalan history. Colom's first message called for negotiations so the government could be a "national conciliation." Colom was sworn in on 14 January 2008. On 12 February of that year, the Congress of the Republic approved the presidential power to pardon death row inmates, recovering the death penalty that was suspended a few years earlier. Colom vetoed this law in March, asserting that this penalty meant "condemning us to another greater death penalty." But Colom stated that he would not pardon those sentenced to death out of respect for the country's laws, although the option to do so was granted in 2008. On 4 September 2008, Colom ordered the Army to control the National Palace and the National Palace of Culture after finding seven recording devices and two hidden cameras in his private office. On 22 September of that year, he named Marlene Raquel Blanco Lapola as the first woman director of the Policía Nacional Civil. On 22 December 2008, Colom dismissed Minister of Defence Marco Tulio García Franco and the entire military leadership in a reshuffle motivated by his intention to modernize the Army and to strengthen and harmonize the relations between the government and the Armed Forces. The death on 10 May 2009 of lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano put Colom's presidency in check. Rosenberg had made a video public days before in which he warned that if he appeared dead, it was the responsibility of Colom and first lady Sandra Torres. The lawyer began investigating the murders of businessman Khalil Musa and his daughter Marjorie and concluded that he could have been killed because he could uncover a corruption case involving Colom and other authorities. Protesters erupted in Guatemala City, and opponents urged President Colom to step down from office. President Colom appeared on national television to reject Rosenberg's accusations and called for both the United Nations and the FBI to investigate. Colom also assured the public that he was not going to resign. In an interview with CNN Español, Colom asserted the Rosenberg video was "completely fake," thus challenging early reports from the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which validated its authenticity. The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala ruled in January 2010 that Rosenberg planned his death with the intention of bringing about profound change in Guatemala, thus failing to prove any involvement of Colom. Amid a food crisis that caused the death of at least 25 children and affected 54,000 families, Colom declared a state of public calamity on 8 September 2009 to address the crisis with government and international aid. After the eruption of the Pacaya volcano on 29 May 2010, which caused two deaths, Colom declared a state of emergency around the volcano. The emergency was extended on 30 May to the whole territory after the passage of the devastating tropical storm Agatha the day before. In 2010, he appointed Helen Mack Chang, a noted human rights activist, to investigate police corruption and make recommendations for changes. She indicated that their low pay and poor working conditions made them open to influence and needed to be addressed. As president, Colom expanded social programs and access to health, education, and social security. These contributed to a rise in the living standards of the Guatemalan poor. He also tackled the growing influence of Mexican drug cartels, especially the Zetas, and, working with the attorney general through the anti-corruption commission, succeeded in arresting some of the country's most violent criminals. He also highlighted his government's gestures towards Indigenous peoples. He was considered one of the few white politicians "allied" with the Mayans and used the Mayan calendar daily, raising the flag representing the Guatemalan indigenous peoples over the National Palace. His presidency ended on 14 January 2012, with the inauguration of Otto Pérez Molina after his victory in the 2011 presidential election and Colom's ineligibility for reelection. Colom left the presidency with a 95.83% disapproval rating of his administration. On 20 January 2012, Colom became a member of the Central American Parliament, an office he held until 2016. Colom headed the observation mission of the Organization of American States to the Colombian peace agreement referendum of 2016. The U.S. government included Álvaro Colom on 1 July 2021 on the Engel List, which would allow the U.S. Congress to sanction him. On 2 March 2004, after months of accusations, Colom was formally charged by the Prosecutor's Office with the crime of money laundering concerning the case of the "looting" of the Comptroller General of Accounts. On 11 March, he acknowledged before the Prosecutor's Office having been financed with the amounts identified by the NGO Amigos en Acción, but denied having any responsibility for the embezzlement of public funds. On 9 August 2005, the Tenth Criminal Court of First Instance exonerated him of the money laundering charge but indicted him for the charge of improper concealment and imposed bail of 50,000 quetzals, which he later deposited, to avoid pre-trial detention. He appealed to the First Chamber of the Criminal Court of Appeals, which ruled in his favor on 13 September with the revocation of the indictment for the crime of concealment. On 17 February 2006, Colom requested the Court to dismiss the case for money laundering, but on 6 March 2006, the magistrate in charge of the case rejected it. Colom then lashed out against the "political persecution" of which he was a victim. On 30 October 2015, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources filed a criminal complaint against Colom before the Attorney General's Office and other members of his government for signing the extension of the oil contract with Perenco. On 13 February 2018, Colom was arrested along with all other members of his former Cabinet "as part of a local corruption investigation". The judge ruled on 1 March that Colom and the twelve other defendants should be prosecuted because the Colom government defrauded the state by illegally granting US$35 million to the Asociación de Empresas de Autobuses Urbanos to install a prepaid Transurbano system without any collateral. He also ordered Colom to be released on bail. On 3 August 2018, he was released from prison on a 1 million quetzal bail. He was under house arrest at his home in Guatemala City until his death on 23 January 2023. Colom's first wife, Patricia Szarata, died in 1977 after a car accident. With Patricia, he had two children: Antonio Colom Szarata, the bass player of a Guatemalan pop rock band "Viento en Contra," and Patricia. His second marriage was to Karen Steele, with whom Colom had his son Diego. However that marriage ended in divorce. In June 2002, he married Sandra Torres, a mother of four, whom he met during the 1999 election campaign. Torres served as first lady during Colom's presidency until 2011, when the couple divorced so that Torres could run for the 2011 presidential election, as the Constitution prohibits relatives of presidents from running for the same office. A court authorized the divorce on 8 April of that year. Even so, in August 2011 the Constitutional Court rejected Torres' registration as a presidential candidate. Colom's personality was defined by his pragmatism and conciliatory nature, although not particularly firm in leadership, an aspect that was criticized and often considered by his critics to be hesitant and subject to the energetic character of his wife, Sandra Torres. After a fractured palate contracted in a fall as a child, he had trouble pronouncing the letter r. Colom rejected abortion, homosexual marriage, and drug use. On 4 December 2020, Colom's lawyer made public to journalists that Colom had esophageal cancer and was undergoing treatment. Colom died from esophageal cancer and pulmonary emphysema on 23 January 2023, at age 71 at home in Guatemala City during house arrest. Ten days earlier, he had been started on sedation. The government decreed three days of mourning, beginning on 24 January. That day the funeral took place in the chapel of the Las Flores cemetery in Guatemala City, where he was later buried. A state funeral was not held, as the family refused the request. Order of Brilliant Jade with Grand Cordon (Republic of China, 2008) Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle (Mexico, 2011)

10. Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes (1895 - 1982)

With an HPI of 51.92, Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes is the 10th most famous Guatemalan Politician. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

José Miguel Ramón Ydígoras Fuentes (17 October 1895 – 27 October 1982) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as the 32nd president of Guatemala from 1958 to March 1963. He was also the main challenger to Jacobo Árbenz during the 1950 presidential election. Ydígoras previously served as the governor of the province of San Marcos.

People

Pantheon has 30 people classified as Guatemalan politicians born between 1804 and 1969. Of these 30, 10 (33.33%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Guatemalan politicians include Alejandro Giammattei, Otto Pérez Molina, and Alejandro Maldonado. The most famous deceased Guatemalan politicians include Jacobo Árbenz, Efraín Ríos Montt, and Carlos Castillo Armas. As of April 2024, 1 new Guatemalan politicians have been added to Pantheon including Sandra Torres.