Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio (17 July 1918 – 6 December 2003) was President of Guatemala from 1 July 1970 to 1 July 1974.
Carlos Arana was born in Barberena, in the department of Santa Rosa. A colonel in the Army, he was elected in an electoral process generally considered "non-transparent" on a platform promising a crackdown on law-and-order issues; his vice president was Eduardo Cáceres. The December following his election he declared a state of emergency and conducted an effective anti-guerrilla campaign; however, this same campaign also entailed the harassment and persecution of his political opponents, student leaders, and trade unionists.
Carlos Arana was the first of the string of Institutional Democratic Party military rulers who would dominate Guatemalan politics in the 1970s and 1980s (his predecessor, Julio César Méndez, while dominated by the army, was nominally a civilian). He also served as the ambassador to Nicaragua.
| Preceded by Julio César Méndez |
President of Guatemala 1970–1974 |
Succeeded by Kjell Laugerud |
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