Fernando Romeo Lucas García

Fernando Romeo Lucas García (born July 4, 1924 in San Juan Chamelco , Alta Verapaz , † May 27, 2006 in Puerto La Cruz , Anzoátegui , Venezuela ) was a Guatemalan general and politician and President of Guatemala from 1978 to 1982.

In 1947 he entered the military as a cadet and rose to brigadier general by 1973 . Between 1958 and 1963, Lucas García represented Alta Verapaz in Congress. Eventually he became Chief of Staff and Defense Minister .

In the presidential election of March 5, 1978, Lucas García achieved more votes than the two opposing candidates General Ricardo Peralta Méndez and Colonel Enrique Peralta Azurdia . However, a low turnout and intimidation attempts by supporters of Peralta Azurdia's extreme right-wing National Liberation Movement led to the fact that Lucas García was denied the clear election victory. In fact, almost 60 percent of the registered voters did not cast their votes and another 20 percent described their voting as a sign of protest. After a delay in the announcement of the final election results, all three candidates finally accused themselves of election fraud . Peralta Azurdia then occupied the offices of the electoral council with 250 armed supporters, but left them after the arrival of army and police units. Three days after the election, the electoral council finally declared that none of the three candidates achieved the 50 percent majority required by the constitution and that Congress would have to decide on the presidency. Despite further allegations of electoral fraud by Peralta Méndez and Peralta Azurdia and threats to the electoral council by supporters of Peralta Azurdia, Congress decided that Lucas García was the candidate with the most votes. As a candidate from a broad front, he also received the support of the army leadership and the outgoing government of General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García , whom he followed on July 1, 1978 in office.

A minor disagreement that erupted after the 1982 election resulted in Lucas García being overthrown by General Efraín Ríos Montt's coup on March 23, 1982, a few months before the end of his term (June 30, 1982) .

Lucas García, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, died in 2006 in exile in Venezuela.

literature

• Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 42/1982 of October 11, 1982, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

• Short biography in rulers.org
• Article on the death of Lucas García in "El País"

predecessor	Office	successor
Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García	President of Guatemala July 1, 1978-23. March 1982	Efraín Ríos Montt