Latinnews Archive
Caribbean & Central America - 17 June 1993
Eye on the military as congress picks rights activist to lead Guatemala
As we were closing this issue Guatemala's congress elected human rights ombudsman Ramiro de Leon Carpio as the country's President until January 1996, when the five-year term of deposed President Jorge Serrano expires. De Leon, 51, won an uncontested second round of voting after the withdrawal of Arturo Herbruger, the 81-year-old president of the supreme electoral tribunal, who had trailed by 64 to 51 votes in the first round.
De Leon's election brought to an end a constitutional crisis which, many feared, could have led to a return to full military's reaction to congress's choice of de Leon, who has been a sharp critic of the security forces for their widespread abuse of human rights.
Although they had appeared to go along with Serrano when he staged his 'self-coup' on 25 May -- he dissolved congress, dismissed the supreme court and placed the country under emergency rule (see Page 2) --, the military joined with political and business leaders in ousting him on 1 June. But they then contributed to the uncertainty about the successor of Serrano, who left for El Salvador the next day.
On 1 June the president of congress, Jose Lobo Dubon, said the defence minister, General Jose Domingo Garcia Samayoa, had taken over as acting President until congress picked a civilian for the job. A constitutional court gave congress five days to name a new President. But, on 2 June, Serrano's Vice-President, Gustavo Espina, who denied that he had resigned when Serrano was forced to quit, declared himself the new President.
Espina's claim to the presidency was turned down by congress on 3 June -- he needed a majority of congress's 117 members to approve his swearing in, but only 44 backed him. However, on 4 June the defence minister said Espina would be the acting President until a 'purged' congress was able to meet and accept his resignation. In negotiations with the military and business leaders, political leaders had pledged to 'cleanse' congress of corrupt legislators. It was not clear how this would be done or how long it would take.
Apart from lacking the support of a majority of congressmen, Espina did not appear to have the support of business and labour leaders either. 'The best thing Espina can do is leave,' Peter Lamport, of the private sector's Comite Coordinador de Asociaciones Agricolas, Comerciales, Industriales y Financieras (Cacif), was quoted as saying.
Adding to the uncertainty, at the request of attorney-general Edgar Tuna Valladares a constitutional court was examining whether Espina had violated the constitution in supporting Serrano's 'self-coup'. In initiating proceedings against Serrano, Espina and interior minister Francisco Perdono, Tuna, who had been suspended from his post and put under house arrest by Serrano on 25 May, said the objective was 'to determine responsibility in the interruption of constitutional order.'
Despite General Garcia Samayoa's statement that Espina would remain as acting President, it was also uncertain how much military support the former Vice-President could count on, it being reported that the army was divided on this issue.
After Serrano was ousted, the top brass denied that they had staged a 'counter-coup' to take power themselves. But analysts have noted that they clearly hold considerable power. And it remains to be seen how they will get on with the Leon who, on being elected President by congress, went out of his way to praise the army for its role the previous few days in returning Guatemala to constitutional rule.
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