Rios Montt
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His Excellency General of Division Efraín Ríos Montt |
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|---|---|
Montt during his first trial
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| 26th President of Guatemala | |
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In office March 23, 1982 – August 8, 1983 |
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| Preceded by | Romeo Lucas García |
| Succeeded by | Óscar Humberto Mejía |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
José Efraín Ríos Montt June 16, 1926 Huehuetenango, Guatemala |
| Political party | Guatemalan Republican Front |
| Spouse(s) | María Teresa Sosa Ávila |
| Children | 3 (including Zury Ríos Montt) |
| Profession | Clergy, General |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 Guatemala
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| Service/branch | Guatemalan Army |
| Years of service | 1951–1983 |
| Rank | General |
José Efraín Ríos Montt (Spanish pronunciation: [efɾaˈin ˈri.os ˈmont]; born June 16, 1926) is a Guatemalan career military officer and politician; he served as President of Guatemala from 1982 to 1983. He was an army general during his time in office, following a coup d'état in 1982. His military government practiced large-scale violations of human rights and spread counter-insurgency terror among the peasantry. It constituted a brief, but terrible episode in the Guatemalan Civil War, which lasted until 1996.
A general in the Guatemalan Army, Ríos Montt came to public office through a coup d'état on March 23, 1982. He was overthrown by his Defense Minister, Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores, in another coup d'état on August 8, 1983. In the 2003 presidential elections, Ríos Mont unsuccessfully ran as the candidate of the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG). In 2007 Ríos Montt returned to public office as a member of Congress, gaining prosecutorial immunity. He was protected from a pair of long-running lawsuits alleging war crimes against him and a number of his former ministers and counselors during their term in the presidential palace in 1982–83. His immunity ended on January 14, 2012, when his term in office ended. On January 26, 2012, Ríos Montt appeared in court in Guatemala and was formally indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity.
Born in Huehuetenango, Ríos Montt is one of the most controversial figures in Guatemala. Two Truth Commissions, the REMHI report, sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church, and the CEH report, conducted by the United Nations as part of the 1996 Accords of Firm and Durable Peace, documented widespread human rights abuses committed by Ríos Montt's military regime. These included widespread , rape, and torture against the indigenous population in what has been called a Guatemalan genocide. Ríos Montt say there was no government-ordered genocide, and that abuses were the result of a long, violent civil war. At time Ríos Montt had close ties to the United States, receiving direct and indirect support from several of its agencies, including the CIA.
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