Voting for a Killer: Efraín Ríos Montt's Return to Politics in Democratic Guatemala

Abstract

From 1982 to 1983, General Efraín Ríos Montt presided over an especially bloody period of the Guatemalan civil war. Under Ríos Montt’s watch, the state killed approximately 75,000 of its own citizens. Yet less than a decade later, the former dictator emerged as one of the most popular politicians in newly democratic Guatemala. How did a gross human rights violator stage such an improbable comeback? Using process tracing, I argue that Ríos Montt’s trajectory is best explained by his embrace of populism as his core political strategy. This analysis deepens our knowledge of an important case, while shedding light on broader questions about how and when actors with profoundly undemocratic values can hijack democracy for their own ends.

Demand without supply? Mass partisanship, ideological attachments, and the puzzle of Guatemala's electoral market failure

“…The evidence is also consistent with the discussion above on the unsuccessful rise of ethnic parties. Studies have consistently shown the extensive barriers and challenges that Guatemala's indigenous population has faced in mobilizing and participating in electoral politics (Azpuru, 2009; Pallister, 2013; Vogt, 2015; Bateson, 2021). Our empirical findings shed further light on the subject.…”

“…Among the immediate effects were the disbanding of the civil patrols, closing military garrisons, recognizing indigenous rights, and establishing a truth commission (Jonas, 2000). Despite their displacement from the formal state sphere, Schwartz (2021: 49) points out that “the military intelligence elites who oversaw the illicit customs scheme managed to exercise coercive power through political party channels, placing strategic allies in government posts.” Explaining their post-conflict electoral success, Bateson (2021: 4) points to the “strategic embrace of populism” to explain why ex-dictators have earned widespread support even from former victims. From 1982 to 1983, General Efraín Ríos Montt presided over a bloody period of the Guatemalan civil war.…”

“…From 1982 to 1983, General Efraín Ríos Montt presided over a bloody period of the Guatemalan civil war. By 1999, nearly half the war's victims said they had a favorable impression of Ríos Montt, and his party, the Frente Republicano Guatemalteco , “was the most popular party among both victims of wartime violence and indigenous Guatemalans” (Bateson, 2021: 1).…”

Containing Large-Scale Criminal Violence Through Internationalized Prosecution: How the Collaboration Between the CICIG and Guatemala’s Law Enforcement Contributed to a Sustained Reduction in the Murder Rate

“…First, General Efraín Ríos Montt, former president of Guatemala during the darkest years of the civil war and a key power broker in democracy (Bateson, 2021), was charged and faced an emblematic trial for ordering the genocidal campaign against Mayan Indians in the 1980s (Burt, 2016). Although the CICIG’s mandate prevented it from prosecuting international crimes during the civil war, the MP under Paz y Paz and the high-risk courts—an institution promoted by the CICIG—led the world’s first case of a domestic tribunal sentencing a head of state for genocide.…”