On October 24, 1957, a brief military junta seized power in Guatemala, deposing the provisional president Luis Arturo Gonzalez Lopez amid a crisis over a disputed election, before handing the presidency to Colonel Guillermo Flores Avendano two days later. The turmoil followed the assassination of the dictator Carlos Castillo Armas by a member of his presidential guard on July 26, 1957. Gonzalez Lopez, the first presidential designate, took over and called an election for October 20, which the government-aligned candidate Miguel Ortiz Passarelli won.
Supporters of the rival Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes denounced the result as fraudulent and rioted, and on October 24 the army removed Gonzalez Lopez and nullified the election results. After the congress refused to recognize the junta, a settlement brokered with Ydigoras led the junta to hand power on October 26 to Flores Avendano, who organized fresh elections in early 1958 that Ydigoras Fuentes won.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Luis Arturo Gonzalez Lopez, provisional President of Guatemala (deposed by a military junta; not physically harmed)
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Luis Arturo Gonzalez Lopez (deposed provisional president)
Guillermo Flores Avendano (colonel installed as provisional president)
Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes (candidate whose supporters forced the annulment)
Carlos Castillo Armas (assassinated dictator whose death opened the crisis)
Sources
A military government junta briefly ruled Guatemala from 24 to 26 October 1957; after the 20 October election gave victory to Miguel Ortiz Passarelli, General Ydigoras denounced fraud, riots broke out, and the army pressured provisional president Gonzalez Lopez, then removed him and nullified the results.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, "Guatemalan military junta of 1957"open source ↗
On 26 October 1957 the junta agreed to hand over the presidency to Colonel Guillermo Flores Avendano after congress refused to recognize the junta and a plan was brokered to replace the deposed Gonzalez Lopez.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, "Guatemalan military junta of 1957"open source ↗
Guillermo Flores Avendano served as president of Guatemala from October 1957 to March 1958, assuming the role after the 1957 general election results were annulled following a coup on allegations of electoral fraud.
On 26 July 1957 President Castillo Armas was assassinated; elections followed in which Ortiz Passarelli won, but Ydigoras Fuentes supporters rioted, the army seized power and annulled the result, and another election was later won by Ydigoras Fuentes.
The Cline dataset codes 24 October 1957 with the leader not physically harmed, matching the brief junta that removed provisional president Gonzalez Lopez before handing power to Flores Avendano on 26 October. Three Wikipedia articles were read directly. This is the aftermath of the 1954 Guatemala coup record, since it follows the assassination of the CIA-installed Castillo Armas.
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Luis Arturo Gonzalez Lopez, provisional President of Guatemala (deposed by a military junta; not physically harmed).
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.
Luttwak
Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.
New York Times
“Guatemala Calm Under New Rule Flores Begins Pacification Effort–One Killed In WorkerPolice Clash Protests Held Baseless Junta Is Dissolved,” October 28, 1957
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →