Guatemala, 1993 — auto-coup attempt
Event Summary
On 25 May 1993 President Jorge Serrano Elias of Guatemala attempted a self coup, or autogolpe, illegally suspending the constitution, dissolving Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Constitutional Court, imposing press censorship, and declaring that he would rule by decree, in a maneuver modeled on Alberto Fujimori's successful self coup in Peru the year before. Serrano, elected in 1991 and mired in corruption allegations and a paralyzed legislature, gambled that the army and public would back a concentration of power in his hands. But the Serranazo, unlike Fujimori's, collapsed for lack of support.
Guatemalan society mobilized against it, an unlikely coalition of business groups, human rights organizations, unions, students, the independent press, and Maya activists; the Constitutional Court ruled his decrees illegal; the Organization of American States condemned him; and the army, deciding to enforce the court's ruling, withdrew its backing. Within a week Serrano was forced to resign and fled the country. Congress then elected the human rights ombudsman Ramiro de Leon Carpio as president, preserving Guatemala's fragile democracy.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
09005251993
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Jorge Serrano Elias attempted the May 1993 autogolpe but was forced to resign and flee within a week.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
Wikipedia
Toronto Star
New York Times
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 →