Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García
|
General
Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García
| |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 1974
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| 36th President of Guatemala | |
|
In office 1 July 1974 – 1 July 1978 |
|
| Vice President | Mario Sandoval Alarcón |
| Preceded by | Carlos Arana Osorio |
| Succeeded by | Fernando Romeo Lucas García |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
24 January 1930 Guatemala City, Guatemala |
| Died | 9 December 2009 (aged 79) Guatemala City, Guatemala |
| Alma mater | United States Army Command and General Staff College |
| Profession | Military officer |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Guatemala |
| Branch/service | Guatemalan Army |
| Rank | General |
Brigadier General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García (24 January 1930 – 9 December 2009) was a Guatemalan military officer who served as the 36th President of Guatemala from 1974 until 1978. He was the son of a Norwegian father and a Guatemalan mother.
Biography
Laugerud received part of his military training in the United States, attending classes at Fort Benning, Georgia, and at Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He served as a Guatemalan delegate to the Inter-American Defense Board between 1968 and 1970.
Laugerud had been Chief of the Army Staff and Defense Minister under President Carlos Arana since 1972, then was elected president in a March 1974 vote marred by violence and fraud charges. The military-backed Institutional Democratic Party and the far-right National Liberation Movement had endorsed his candidature. During his term, Guatemala experienced a disastrous earthquake in 1976 and had continuing disputes with neighboring Belize. In 1977, after the Carter administration published a report critical of the human rights situation in Guatemala, Laugerud announced that the country would no longer accept U.S. military aid. Guatemala did, receive funds that had already been appropriated for that year and later turned to other nations, such as Israel, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Taiwan, and Yugoslavia, for military aid and arms supplies.
Just before the end of his term, Laugerud was also faced with the consequences of a massacre of Kekchi Indians by the military in Panzós, in which the Army killed 53 unarmed civilians and another 47 were wounded.
In 1983, Laugerud and three other ex-presidents were forced to retire from the Army.