1958- Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes
In 1957 President Castillo Armas was assassinated by a member of his own guard in an incident never satisfactorily explained. The assassination led to several months of turmoil under two provisional presidents. Elections were first held in October and resulted in the announced victory of the candidate of the government party. the National Democratic Movement (Movimiento Democrático Nacional—MDN). Massive protest demonstrations organized by supporters of another candidate, Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes. who claimed that the elections were fraudulent, led to major rioting and the resignation of the provisional president, Luis Arturo González López, his replacement by Guillermo Flores Avendaño, and the holding of new elections in January 1958. Although Ydígoras received the most votes in a three candidate election, described by observers as generally fair, he did not receive a majority of all votes cast, so the decision went to Congress, which confirmed the election of Ydigoras. Most of the representatives of the MDN voted for Ydigoras, rather than the MDN's own candidate, reportedly after extensive bribery. This led to the secession of many hard-core supporters of the late Castillo Arms (castillistas), led by Mario Sandoval Alarcón, who founded a new party, the National Liberation Movement (Movimiento de Liberación Nacional — MLN ).
Ydigoras’ regime was noted for its corruption and repressive activities. The repression was intermittent rather than consistent, however, and Ydigoras fell in with the liberal developmentalism of the Alliance for Progress era, sponsoring, among other things, income tax and land reform legislation. The amount of land given out, mostly land donated by the United Fruit Company, was modest, benefiting a few hundred peasant families a year. Although the economy was weakened during his first years in office by low coffee prices, it then began to grow as industry expanded in relation to the Central American Common Market area. Ydígoras sponsored an industrial promotion law that gave favorable treatment to new business. offering exemption from taxes and import duties and unrestricted remittance of profits. The contribution of manufacturing to gross domestic product rose steadily; the addition of 1,500 new jobs annually in the manufacturing sector did not increase its percentage of overall employment, however.
Although Ydigoras had declined the CIA's invitation to head the invasion that overthrew Arbenz, he permitted the agency to train Cuban exiles at the estate of Vice President Roberto Alejos in Retalhuleu. In return, Guatemala received a larger sugar quota and favorable treatment on loans, despite the protests of British representatives at the World Bank because until 1966 Guatemala was technically in default on loans from Britain. Ydigoras was finally overthrown when it appeared that he intended to preside over fair elections. scheduled for December 1963, that would probably have been won by ex-president Arévalo. The coup was staged by the minister of national defense, Colonel Enrique Paralta Azurdia. when Arévalo's return to the country in March 1963 resulted in enthusiastic popular demonstrations.
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