Enrique Peralta Azurdia

Career Peralta served as a military attaché for the embassies of Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador and the United States, and was later promoted to a plenipotentiary to Cuba, El Salvador and Costa Rica.

In 1958, Peralta became the Director General of Agricultural Affairs under Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes's government, a position he served until 1959. From 1959 to 1960, Peralta was the Minister of Agriculture, and from 1961 to 1963, was the Minister of Defence.

Head of Government After coming to power, Peralta suspended the Constitution, dissolved the Congress, and banned the Communist Party (PGT). However, in 1964, a year after he became head of government, Peralta ended press censorship and lifted the state of emergency. The same year, Peralta called for constituent elections where only two groups could contest: the National Liberation Movement (MLN) and the Revolutionary Party (PR). Another notable event occurred on March 3 and 5, 1966, when the G-2 (military intelligence) and the Judicial Police raided three houses in Guatemala City, capturing twenty-eight trade unionists and members of the PGT. The twenty-eight "disappeared" while in the custody of the security force, marking it one of the largest forced disappearances in Latin American history.

In 1965, a new Constitution of Guatemala was approved, and general elections were held on March 6, 1966, contested by the Peralta's Institutional Democratic Party (PID), and the PR. The PR candidate Julio César Méndez Montenegro won, and Peralta peacefully handed power to Méndez on July 1.