Word: peralta
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Late in March, 1963, Juan Jose Arevalo was smuggled into Guatemala City to be a leftist candidate in the crucial presidential elections. In reaction to his presence, the government of Guatemala toppled within days; rightist Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes was replaced by fartherrightest Enrique Peralta, a military dictator in the old style. If the election had ever taken place, Arevalo would probably have been victorious...
Colonel Enrique Peralta Azurdia, the head of Guatemala's junta, called Britain's promise of self-rule "a flagrant violation of the sovereign rights of Guatemala." He broke off diplomatic relations with Great Britain, and an editorial in Guatemala City's La Hora spoke grandly of war: "We haven't fought a war for half a century. The English always have been good soldiers, but that doesn't mean they are any more masculine than we are." Unrattled, the British last week went blithely ahead with self-government plans for British Honduras...
Guatemala City's workers and shopkeepers applauded politely, and the hundreds of straw-hat peasants trucked into the capital stood passively. The country's new military strongman was addressing them. On a balcony of the avocado green national palace, Army Colonel Enrique Peralta Azurdia, 54, explained what was in store for the country following his overthrow of President Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes. He began by proclaiming Decree Law No. 1: subject-labor reform. Peralta promised equal pay for both Indians and whites, an eight-hour day and a 48-hour week, paid vacations, maternity leave, the right of farm...
High Time. That seemed to be the plank that interested Peralta the most. An austere, humorless man who goes to mass regularly, he has a record unblemished by any flirtation with the left, and his open affection for the U.S. was cemented during a 1940 tour of defense pests as the guest of then Chief of Staff George C. Marshall. "That was a magnificent trip." Peralta remembers. Selecting his Cabinet last week, he stuck strictly to anti-Communists but chose a majority of civilians. Peralta's Treasury Minister announced plans to cut down on the budget deficit, fire featherbedding...
Whether the reports were true or not, the military indignantly took over-a plan known to President Kennedy weeks before. The brass arrested Ydigoras and Alejos, sent them into exile. Though Washington is in no hurry to recognize the Peralta regime, it will probably do so eventually. In return for promises of democratic intent, the U.S. similarly recognized the de facto military governments that overturned constitutional rule in Peru and Argentina last year. Last week President Kennedy told his press conferences that Guatemalan recognition would depend on "what assurances we get as to when a democratic government will be formed...