Héctor Mario López Fuentes

Héctor Mario López Fuentes (7 May 1930 – 18 October 2015) was a Guatemalan general. He served as Army Chief of Staff until his replacement in 1983 by Rodolfo Lobos Zamora. In later life he held diplomatic and political roles. He was arrested in 2011 on war crimes charges but died of cancer before he could be brought to trial.

Military, diplomatic and political career López Fuentes was born on 7 May 1930. He attended the and graduated in 1952. López Fuentes afterwards served as a supernumerary officer on the general staff for four years. From 1957 to 1961 he was an instructor at the Adolfo V. Hall Central Institute and from 1961 to 1962 served in the Presidential Honor Guard. He later served as an aide-de-camp at the Ministry of Defense and as a staff officer in Quetzaltenango. López Fuentes returned to the Honor Guard in 1966 and served as its deputy commander in 1970-71. He commanded a naval base on the Atlantic in 1971-72. During his career López Fuentes attended a number of military courses in the United States and was inducted into the Fort Leavenworth Allied Officers' Hall of Fame in 1973. He was held at a barracks near Guatemala City for 16 days before being transferred to the Military Medical Centre for health reasons. He would spend the rest of his life in the medical center, suffering from cancer. In May 2012, he was brought before Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez of Tribunal B de Mayor Riesgo to face the charges. Gálvez rejected a motion by López' lawyer Moisés Galindo to close the tribunal on the grounds of López Fuentes' poor health. The retrial was scheduled for January 2016 but López Fuentes died on 18 October 2015, aged 85.