Ángel Aníbal Guevara

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General Ángel Aníbal Guevara Rodríguez is a Guatemalan soldier and politician.

Having served as defence minister in the previous administration, he was victorious in the 7 March 1982 presidential election to succeed outgoing President Romeo Lucas García, who had hand-picked him as his successor. The election was, however, widely denounced as fraudulent by both left-wing and right-wing groups. A military-led coup d'état two weeks after the election prevented Guevara Rodríguez from assuming power and instead installed a three-man junta headed by Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt.

In 1999 Ángel Aníbal Guevara was one of the members of the Guatemalan military and political establishment named by Rigoberta Menchú in her attempt to bring a prosecution on charges of genocide before the Spanish courts. The charges are for his role as Defense Minister under former President Lucas Garcia, whose regime is alleged to have masterminded a genocidal campaign against the indigenous population. Guevara turned himself into the Guatemalan police hours after the arrest warrants in the case were issued. He was more recently transferred from prison to a military hospital.


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