Juan Federico Ponce Vaides (27 March 1889 – 29 January 1956) was the acting President of Guatemala from 4 July 1944 to 20 October 1944. He was overthrown by a popular uprising on 20 October 1944 that began the Guatemalan Revolution.
Life
Ponce Vaides was born in a wealthy upper-class family in Cobán, Alta Verapaz. His father was Mariano Ponce Contreras, his mother Victoria Vaides Arrivillaga. During the government of Manuel Estrada Cabrera, Vaides took part in the National Campaign of 1906 against Honduras and El Salvador. After that, he became commander and political leader in different departments of state. After the downfall of Cabrera in 1920, he lost his brother, who was executed during a popular uprising.
Presidency
Jorge Ubico, the dictator of Guatemala from 1931 to 1944, was forced to resign on 1 July 1944 by a popular pro-democracy movement. Ubico appointed three generals, Ponce Vaides, Eduardo Villagran Ariza, and Buenaventura Pineda, to a military junta to succeed him. On 3 July, Ponce Vaides forced the Guatemalan congress at gunpoint to appoint him interim president.
Instability
Protests had grown to the point where the government could not stamp them out, and rural areas also began protesting the dictatorship.