Ramiro de León Carpio (12 January 1942 – 16 April 2002) was a Guatemalan politician who served as the 43rd president of Guatemala from June 1993 until January 1996. He served as Guatemala's Attorney for Human Rights from August 1987 to June 1993.

Career

De León studied law at the University of San Carlos and then at the Rafael Landívar University, where he ran the Sol Bolivariano ("Bolivarian Sun") newspaper. After graduating, he became a state civil servant, working in the Common Market division of the Ministry of Economy between 1967 and 1969, when he became the permanent secretary of the tariff committee. In 1970, he became permanent secretary for the National Committee for Economic and Political Integration. During this time, he joined the right-wing National Liberation Movement (MLN), whose candidate, Carlos Arana, won the 1970 presidential elections. During Arana's four-year term, de León served as secretary general of the State Advisory Board. He then moved to the private sector, joining the Guatemala Association of Sugar Producers, serving as their legal advisor between 1978 and 1981, and then as their general administrator until 1983. He then became involved in the bloodless coup that saw President Efraín Ríos Montt replaced by Óscar Humberto Mejía.

Along with his cousin Jorge Carpio Nicolle, he co-founded the center-right Unity of the National Center (UCN) party. It opposed authoritarianism and instead proposed social liberalism. He became one of the party's 21 deputies in 1984. He played an important role in developing the 1985 Constitution, which is still in force today. He supported his cousin in the latter's attempt to win the 1985 presidential election. Carpio got to the second round but was then defeated by Vinicio Cerezo. De León then resigned from the UCN.

In 1989, de Leon became Defensor del Pueblo ("People's Defender"), Guatemala's human rights ombudsman. While this allowed him to denounce human rights abuses by the powers that be (and be heard when he did it), he did not have any actual power to combat these abuses.

Presidency (1993–1996)

On 25 May 1993, President Jorge Serrano led an autocoup – a coup d'état by someone(s) in the country's governmentdissolving the constitution and the National Congress with the apparent support of the army. He further ordered the arrest of de León. He avoided arrest by escaping over the roofs of the adjacent houses and was then able to send out a condemnation of the coup. Amid protests and suspension of foreign aid, National mourning was declared, and he was given a state funeral. He was posthumously awarded the Grand Collar of the Sovereign National Congress.

References

  • Biography by CIDOB