Jorge Carpio Nicolle

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Jorge Carpio Nicolle (June 26, 1908 – July 3, 1993) was a Guatemalan politician and newspaper publisher. He was the founder of the Unión del Centro Nacional (National Centrist Union, or UCN) in 1984, and ran as the party's candidate for president in the elections of 1985 and 1990. He came in second in both elections. He was the director and editor of El Gráfico, at one time one of Guatemala's largest newspapers. He also served as Guatemala's Ambassador to the United Nations.[1] He was assassinated in July 3, 1993, along with three other political leaders of the UCN, in the municipality of Chichicastenango, El Quiché. Surviving witnesses reported that the murders took place after the group was intercepted by members of a Guatemalan Civil Defense Patrol, a type of paramilitary unit under the control of the Army.[2] According to his widow, Marta Arrivillaga de Carpio, who was with Carpio and the others during the attack, the party's minivan was stopped by a group of armed men in ski masks. The assailants said "You're Jorge Carpio" and then shot him three times.[3] The other victims of the attack were Juan Vicente Villacorta, Alejandro Ávila Guzmán, and Rigoberto Rivas González.[4]

Shortly before Carpio's assassination, his first cousin, Ramiro de León Carpio, was appointed President after the failed auto-coup by Jorge Serrano Elias.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Jorge Carpio Nicolle, Guatemala (1932-1993)", Liberal International. Retrieved on 2008-05-31. 
  2. ^ "Carpio Nicolle Case, Order of the Court of June 4, 1995, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (Ser. E) (1995)", University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. Retrieved on 2008-05-31. 
  3. ^ Rohter, Larry. "Death Squads in Guatemala: Even the Elite Are Not Safe", New York Times, 1995-08-23. Retrieved on 2008-05-31. 
  4. ^ "Annual Report 2003", Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2003-12-29. Retrieved on 2008-05-31. 
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