His Excellency General of Division Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia |
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Defense Secretary of Guatemala | |
In office 1975–1977 |
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President | General Kjell Laugerud Garcia |
Franja Transversal del Norte Director | |
In office 1977 – July 1, 1978 |
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President | Kjell Laugerud Garcia |
President of Guatemala | |
In office July 1, 1978 – March 23, 1982 |
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Prime Minister | Héctor Montalván Batres |
Vice President | Francisco Villagrán Kramer |
Preceded by | Kjell Laugerud Garcia |
Succeeded by | Efraín Ríos Montt |
Personal details | |
Born |
San Juan Chamelco, Guatemala Guatemala |
4 July 1924
Died | 27 May 2006 Puerto de la Cruz, Venezuela Venezuela |
(aged 81)
Spouse(s) | Elsa Cirigliano |
Occupation | General |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Guatemala |
Service/branch | Guatemalan Army |
Years of service | 1949-1977 |
Rank | General |
General Fernando Romeo Lucas García (b. San Juan Chamelco, Alta Verapaz, 4 July 1924 – d. Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela, 27 May 2006) was the 25th President of Guatemala from 1 July 1978 to 23 March 1982. He was democratically elected as Institutional Democratic Party candidate (with the support of the Revolutionary Party). Elections for his presidency were fraud-ridden. During Lucas García's regime, tensions between the radical left and the government increased. The military started to murder political opponents while counterinsurgency measures more and more terrorized the peasant population.
The first settler project in the FTN was in Sebol-Chinajá in Alta Verapaz. Sebol, then regarded as a strategic point and route through Cancuén river, which communicated with Petén through the Usumacinta River on the border with Mexico and the only road that existed was a dirt one built by President Lázaro Chacón in 1928. In 1958, during the government of General Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) financed infrastructure projects in Sebol. In 1960, then Army captain Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia inherited Saquixquib and Punta de Boloncó farms in northeastern Sebol. In 1963 he bought the farm "San Fernando" El Palmar de Sejux and finally bought the "Sepur" farm near San Fernando. During those years, Lucas was in the Guatemalan legislature and lobbied in Congress to boost investment in that area of the country.
In those years, the importance of the region was in livestock, exploitation of precious export wood and archaeological wealth. Timber contracts we granted to multinational companies such as Murphy Pacific Corporation from California, which invested US$30 million for the colonization of southern Petén and Alta Verapaz, and formed the North Impulsadora Company. Colonization of the area was made through a process by which inhospitable areas of the FTN were granted to native peasants.