1974: Presidential candidate for the Democracia Cristiana Guatemalteca (DCG) and Frente Unido de la Revolución (FUR) who were grouped together in the centre-left Frente Nacional de Oposición (FNO). Wins the elections but is prevented from taking power by the civilian-military régime of General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García, which had held sway since 1970.
1973/77: Sent to Madrid as military attaché.
1978: Abandons the Catholic faith and becomes a fervent follower of the Iglesia del Verbo sect, a local branch of Gospel Outreach, an evangelical church headquartered in Eureka, California.
1982: The military President Fernando Romeo Lucas García is overthrown and Ríos Montt is offered the chance to participate in a three-man military junta along with General Horacio Egberto Maldonado Schaad and Colonel Francisco Gordillo Martínez. Ríos Montt accepts.
1982/83: He takes over the presidency of Guatemala and assumes de facto rule between 23 March 1982 and 8 August 1983. His brief stint in the presidency is marked by human rights violations, including massacres of civilians, peasants, Mayan Indians and leftwing activists.
1983: Submits to international pressure and calls presidential elections for July 1984, but is overthrown on 8 August 1983 in a coup led by his defence minister, General Oscar Humberto Mejía Víctores. Not only is Ríos Montt not punished, but he maintains all of his power and influence.
1985: The national constituent assembly approves a new constitution outlawing coup participants from running for the presidency.
1986: The return of democratic elections. Unable to compete for president, he turns his attention to the legislature, forming the FRG. The party provides a platform for him to gain a majority in the legislature and become president of congress.
1990: The supreme court disqualifies Ríos Montt from running in the 1991 presidential elections.
1993: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights rejects his appeal against the Guatemalan state for 'violating his right to be elected'.
1994: The constitutional president, Jorge Antonio Serrano Elías, attempts an 'autogolpe' (a self-imposed coup) in the style of Peru's Alberto Fujimori. As president of congress, Ríos Montt takes over the position of head of state.
1995: The supreme court disqualifies him from running in the presidential elections of November 1995. He names Alfonso Portillo Cabrera as his successor. Portillo loses in the second round and the presidency goes to moderate rightwinger Alvaro Enrique Arzú Yrigoyen (PAN).
1999 Portillo, widely perceived to be little more than Ríos Montt's puppet, wins the presidential elections. The FRG gains power over the presidency and the national congress.
2003-
24 May: FRG proclaims Ríos Montt as official candidate.
6 June: Electoral college rejects his candidacy.
16 June: The first court of appeal, the supreme electoral tribunal (TSE) ratifies the rejection.
5 July: The second court of appeal, the supreme court of justice (CSJ) rejects Ríos Montt's appeal.
15 July: The final court of appeal, the constitutional court (CC) orders the registration of Ríos Montt as the FRG candidate.
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