Francisco Javier Arana

Francisco Javier Arana Castro (3 December 1905 – 18 July 1949) was a Guatemalan military leader and one of the three members of the revolutionary junta that ruled Guatemala from 20 October 1944 to 15 March 1945 during the early part of the Guatemalan Revolution.

A major in the Guatemalan army under the dictator Jorge Ubico, he allied with a progressive faction of the army to topple Ubico's successor Federico Ponce Vaides.

Francisco Javier Arana Castro was born on 3 December 1905 in Villa Canales, Guatemala.

His parents, Ángel María Arana and Margarita Castro, were from a lower-middle-class family.

He had both Spanish and Indigenous heritage, and the latter trait was visually more prominent.

He did not have a formal education, but he was relatively well read, and was described by his contemporaries as canny and intelligent, and as a charismatic and convivial person.

He was described as a poor public speaker, but as a very persuasive man in intimate conversations.

In June 1944, a series of popular protests forced the resignation of dictator Jorge Ubico.

Ubico appointed Federico Ponce Vaides leader of a three-person junta which would lead the provisional government.

A few days later, Ponce Vaides persuaded the Congress to appoint him interim president.

Ponce pledged to hold free elections soon, while continuing Ubico's policy of suppressing the protests.

This resulted in growing support for an armed revolution among some sections of the populace.

By this time, the Guatemalan Army was disillusioned with the junta, and progressives within it had begun to plot a coup.

Arana became a member of this plot only in its later stages; the plot was initially led by Jacobo Árbenz and Aldana Sandoval.

However, as the commander of the Guardia de Honor, Arana was in a position of substantial authority within the army.

Sandoval was able to persuade Arana to join the coup in its final stages.

On 19 October, Arana and Árbenz launched a coup against the government of Ponce Vaides.

They were joined the next day by other factions of the army and the civilian population.

Initially, the battle went against the revolutionaries, but after an appeal for support their ranks were swelled by unionists and students, and they eventually subdued the police and army factions loyal to Ponce Vaides.

On 20 October, the next day, Ponce Vaides surrendered unconditionally.

Both Arana and Árbenz fought with distinction in the coup.

Arana, Árbenz and Jorge Toriello became members of a new three-person ruling junta, with Arana, who as a Major was the ranking army officer, becoming its senior member.

Arana did not wish to turn over power to a civilian administration.

He tried to persuade Árbenz and Toriello to postpone the election, and after Juan José Arévalo was elected President in December 1944, he asked them to declare the election results invalid.

Árbenz and Toriello insisted that Arévalo be allowed to take power, which Arana reluctantly agreed to, on the condition that Arana's position as the commander of the military be unchallenged.

He led the three-man junta that oversaw the transition to a democratic government, although he was personally reluctant to allow the elected President Juan José Arévalo to take office in 1945.

Arévalo had no choice but to agree to this, and so the new Constitution of Guatemala, created in 1945, created a new position of "Commander of the Armed Forces," a position which was more powerful than that of the defense minister.

He could only be removed by Congress, and even then only if he was found to have broken the law.

When Arévalo was inaugurated as President, Arana stepped into this new position, and Árbenz was sworn in as defense minister.

After Arana assumed his new and powerful position, an American embassy official stated in a dispatch that Arana was the type of personality that might assume dictatorial power.

On 16 December 1945, Arévalo was seriously injured in a car accident and incapacitated for a period.

The leaders of the Revolutionary Action Party (PAR), the party that supported the government, were afraid that Arana would take the opportunity to launch a coup.

A handful of its leaders approached Arana and made a deal with him, which later came to be known as the Pacto del Barranco (Pact of the Ravine).

In 1946, during the Guatemalan Revolution, a staff member at the United States embassy described his politics as nationalist, as well as being slightly pro-American.

However, it was kept a secret; the American embassy only learned of it in 1947.

Arévalo himself recovered swiftly, but was forced to support the agreement.

He served as the Chief of the Armed Forces in the new government until 1949.

On 18 July 1949 he was killed in a shootout with supporters of the Arévalo government after he threatened to launch a coup.

Arana agreed to refrain from seizing power with the military; in return, the PAR agreed to support Arana's candidacy in the next presidential election, scheduled for November 1950.

This undertaking was given in writing.