Ángel Aníbal Guevara Rodríguez is a Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

n soldier and politician. He was born in La Democracia, Escuintla

La Democracia, Escuintla

La Democracia is a municipality in the Escuintla department of Guatemala. It is most notable for the crude Olmec-influenced carved stone heads from the Monte Alto culture now on display around the town square. The town possesses a small archaeological museum, the Museo Regional de Arqueología de la...

 in 1924.

Having served as defense minister in the previous administration, Guevara was victorious in the 7 March 1982 presidential election

Guatemalan presidential election, 1982

General elections were held in Guatemala on 7 March 1982. Ángel Aníbal Guevara, hand-picked successor of previous president Romeo Lucas García, was declared the winner of the presidential election and was scheduled to take office on 1 July...

 to succeed outgoing President

President of Guatemala

The title of President of Guatemala has been the usual title of the leader of Guatemala since 1839, when that title was assumed by Mariano Rivera Paz...

 Romeo Lucas

Fernando Romeo Lucas García

Fernando Romeo Lucas García was the 25th President of Guatemala from 1 July 1978 to 23 March 1982...

, who had hand-picked him as his successor. The election was, however, widely denounced as fraudulent by both left-wing

Left-wing politics

In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

 and right-wing

Right-wing politics

In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...

 groups. A military

Military of Guatemala

The Military of Guatemala consists of National Army of Guatemala , the Guatemalan Navy and the Guatemalan Air Force ....

-led coup d'état

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

  two weeks after the election prevented Guevara from assuming power and instead installed a three-man junta

Military dictatorship

A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....

 headed by Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt

Efraín Ríos Montt

José Efraín Ríos Montt is a former de facto President of Guatemala, dictator, army general, and former president of Congress. In the 2003 presidential elections, he unsuccessfully ran as the candidate of the ruling Guatemalan Republican Front .Huehuetenango-born Ríos Montt remains one of the most...

.

He ran again in 1995

Guatemalan general election, 1995

General elections were held in Guatemala on 12 November 1995, with a second round of the presidentail elections held on 7 January 1996. Álvaro Arzú of the National Advancement Party won the presidential election, whilst his party also won the Congressional elections...

but failed to win much support.