National Liberation Movement Movimiento de Liberación Nacional | |
|---|---|
| President (last) | Fernando Romeo Lucas García |
| Founder | Carlos Castillo Armas |
| Founded | 23 December 1953; 71 years ago (1953-12-23)[1][2] |
| Dissolved | 2 February 2000; 25 years ago (2000-02-02) |
| Headquarters | Guatemala City |
| Youth wing | Juventud MLN |
| Paramilitary wing | Mano Blanca |
| Ideology | Fascism[3][4][5] Ultraconservatism[6][7] Anti-communism[8] |
| Political position | Far-right[9][10][11][12] |
| International affiliation | World League for Freedom and Democracy |
| Colours | Blue White Red |
| Slogan | ¡MLN! |
| Party flag | |
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TheNational Liberation Movement (Spanish:Movimiento de Liberación Nacional,MLN) was aGuatemalanpolitical party formed in 1954 byCarlos Castillo Armas. The party served as political platform for themilitary junta.
The MLN was founded as theNational Democratic Movement (Spanish:Movimiento Democratico Nacional,MDN) in 1954 by PresidentCarlos Castillo Armas. It was the ruling party from 1954 until 1958. The party supported the government of PresidentMiguel Ydígoras Fuentes (1958–1963).[13]
The1963 coup that saw the government of Ydígoras Fuentes overthrown led to the MLN becoming the main party of the military. Although they were not successful in the presidential election of 1964 their candidate in 1970,Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, was electedPresident, in coalition with theInstitutional Democratic Party (Spanish:Partido Institucional Democrático,PID). Victory was also secured in the1974 election whenKjell Eugenio Laugerud García's candidacy was also endorsed by the PID. However they later broke their alliance with the PID for the1978 elections. Its candidate, former PresidentEnrique Peralta Azurdia, placed second in the election.[14] The party was close to theMANOdeath squad. Another faction of the party, theNational Reformist Movement, split away after the coup although it never became a major factor in electoral politics.[13]
In the1982 election, the MLN's candidate was former vice-presidentMario Sandoval Alarcón, who placed second in what was considered a fraudulent election, followed by acoup d'état in 1982. For the 1984 elections to theConstitutional Assembly, the party allied with National Authentic Central, another right-wing party, and the 23 seats they won constituted the largest bloc in the assembly, albeit outnumbered by reformist parties. They renewed their alliance with the Institutional Democratic Party for the1985 election. Once more, Mario Sandoval Alarcón was its presidential candidate, and placed fourth in the race while the alliance won 12 seats in Congress. The party faded thereafter: it ran alongside theNational Advancement Front in1990 without much success, winning just 4 seats in Congress. Left to continue alone, it secured less than 1% in 1995 (winning a single seat) and again in 1999 (when it lost representation).[15]
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