On March 23, 1982 a group of young Guatemalan army officers overthrew President Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia and installed a military junta headed by retired General Efrain Rios Montt, whose brief rule became one of the bloodiest phases of the Guatemalan Civil War. Lucas Garcia's government was mired in corruption, a losing counterinsurgency, and a fraudulent March 1982 election that had declared the official candidate the winner. On March 23, 1982 junior officers surrounded the presidential palace with troops and armor and forced Lucas Garcia to resign, preventing the fraudulently elected successor from taking office.
They installed a three-man junta presided over by Rios Montt, who in June ousted the other two members to rule alone. His counterinsurgency campaign in the highlands massacred thousands of Maya villagers, and he was later convicted of genocide. Lucas Garcia was not physically harmed.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia, overthrown on March 23, 1982 by junior officers who installed a junta under Rios Montt; he was not physically harmed.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia (president overthrown)
Efrain Rios Montt (general installed as junta head)
The young officers (oficiales jovenes, who staged the coup)
Sources
On March 23, 1982, a coup overthrew the government of Lucas Garcia, after which army officers persuaded Efrain Rios Montt to lead a three-man military junta, and in June Rios Montt ousted the other two members to assume complete dictatorial powers.
On 7 March 1982 General Angel Anibal Guevara, the official party's candidate, was declared winner of the presidential election, a result denounced as fraudulent, and a group of young officers then staged a military coup that overthrew Lucas and prevented Guevara from succeeding him, culminating on 23 March in the installation of a three-person junta presided by Rios Montt.
Young officers at the head of 2,000 troops and backed by armored cars and artillery surrounded the presidential palace on March 23, 1982 and forced the resignation of President Romeo Lucas Garcia in favor of a three-man military junta under the presidency of retired general Efrain Rios Montt.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWashington Post, Dissident Officers Claim Control in Guatemalan Coupopen source ↗
The PID lost its grip on Guatemalan politics when General Efrain Rios Montt along with a group of junior army officers seized power in a military coup on 23 March 1982, during the long-running Guatemalan Civil War in which government forces committed genocide against the Maya population.
Fate coding: the deposed president Lucas Garcia was not physically harmed, matching the dataset. Coding note: the dataset labels this a military coup, accurately, staged by junior officers (the oficiales jovenes) who forced Lucas Garcia out and installed Rios Montt as junta head; Rios Montt himself had not planned the coup and was chosen for his reputation. Atrocity context handled neutrally and cited: Rios Montt's roughly 17-month rule was one of the bloodiest phases of the Guatemalan Civil War; his highland counterinsurgency massacred thousands of Maya villagers, and a UN truth commission later found the state committed acts of genocide. Rios Montt was convicted of genocide in 2013 (a conviction later annulled). These are recorded as documented findings attributed to their sources rather than adjudicated here. Neutrality: this is a contested subject; the record confines itself to the documented sequence. Arc forward: Rios Montt consolidated sole power in June 1982 and was himself overthrown by his defense minister Mejia Victores in August 1983, separate later events. The coup also voided the fraudulent March 1982 election result, a documented detail.
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: President Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia, overthrown on March 23, 1982 by junior officers who installed a junta under Rios Montt; he was 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
“Army Rebels Oust Guatemala Regime and Set up Junta: Election Fraud Charged...” March 24, 1982
“GUATEMALAN ARMY TOPPLES PRESIDENT IN A BRIEF BATTLE,” August 9, 1983
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 →