Sandoval Alarcon, Mario

He graduated from the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences at the University of San Carlos. He began his political activity in 1944 , in a student anti-communist organization. He participated in the underground struggle against the leftist government of Jacobo Arbenz . He was one of the founders of the Anti-Communist Committee of university students ^[1] . In 1954, he supported the coup of Castillo Armas , participated in the overthrow of Arbenz. He was the personal secretary of President Castillo Armas.

After the assassination of Castillo Armas in 1957, his far-right supporters, led by Mario Sandoval Alarcon and Lionel Sisniega Otero ^[2] created the National Liberation Movement ( MLN ). This organization became the shock detachment of Guatemalan right-wing radicalism. Guatemalan death squads , Mano Blanca, were affiliated with the political structure of MLN.

Sandowal Alarcon, with some reservations, defined his worldview as fascist ^[3] . Accordingly, the motives of the “Third Way” sounded in his ideology.

We are fighting two enemies. The first is reactionary governments ruling with a whip in their hand. The second is the destroyers of human values, whose system is based on demagogy, hunger and crime.
Mario Sandoval Alarcon, 1957 ^[4]

In 1964, Mario Sandowal Alarcon - Member of the National Constitutional Assembly. In 1970 - 1974 - Chairman of the Guatemalan Parliament (Congress). After the election of presidential candidate MLN General Eugenio Laugeruda - Vice President of Guatemala in 1974 - 1978 .

The second half of the 1970s saw the revelry of Mano Blanca . The leading three of MLN - Sandoval Valarcon, Sisniega Otero, Oliviero Castañeda - were accused of a number of resonant political killings ^[5] .

The main principle of MLN was declared anti-communism . However, targeted attacks were carried out not only against communists and left-wing radical rebels , but also against unarmed left intelligentsia ^[6] . At the same time, MLN defended the interests of creoles and ladinos . Together with the Guatemalan army ^[7], Sandoval Alarcon squadrons massacred the population of the Indian villages , calling the Indian peasants accomplices of the pro-communist partisans ^[8] . The rural terror of Mano Blanca reached a particular scale in the late 1960s.

The army was demoralized by the partisans until we organized the White Hand.
Mario Sandoval Alarcon, 1971

MLN and Mano Blanco were funded by contributions from plantation owners interested in guarding against guerrilla attacks. Sandoval Alarcon’s relations with state structures, primarily the army command, became complicated after 1978. The generals and officers were suspicious of MLN's claims for an independent political role. Particularly difficult was the relationship between Sandoval Alarcon and President Romeo Lucas Garcia , head of state in 1978-1982.

Sandoval Alarcon developed an active international activity. Guatemala of the 1970s and early 1980s was one of the centers of the global anti-communist movement. Close vice-president contacts were established with the governments of Taiwan , Paraguay , the extreme right-wing circles of the United States, and the authorities of Franco-Spain as vice president and through the WACL channels. In November 1975, Sandowal Alarcon represented Guatemala at the funeral of Caudillo Franco ^[9] .

MLN has been active in organizing the far-right Nationalist Republican Alliance ( ARENA ) in El Salvador and the death squads of Major d'Aubusson . Sandoval Alarcon's nephew Carlos Midense Pivaral even called ARENA his offspring ^[10] . Such an unequivocal assessment seems exaggerated, but the important role of MLN in helping Salvadoran like-minded people is undeniable. Ernesto Panama Sandoval , one of the founders of the Salvadoran Nationalist Movement ( MNS ), was also a relative of Mario Sandoval Alarcon.

Sandoval Alarcon sharply negatively assessed the activities of US President Jimmy Carter , considering his policy of protecting human rights "beneficial to international communism."

We, the free people who have gathered here, accuse the Carter administration of betraying humanity.
Mario Sandoval Valarcon, presentation at the WACL conference in Asuncion , 1979

Mario Sandoval Alarcon was fiercely criticized by the US stance on the overthrow of the dictatorial regime of Anastasio Somosa in Nicaragua in July 1979. Sandoval Alarcon strongly supported Somos. When the Guatemalan government, under the influence of the Carter administration, tried to ban the landing of the Somosa plane, Sandoval Alarcon arrived at the airport with a detachment of militants, obtained permission to land and received Somosa at his home for several days ^[11] .

On March 7, 1982, Mario Sandoval Valaron ran for President of Guatemala. He took second place, collecting more than 28% of the vote (less than half of Guatemalan voters participated in the elections). Sandoval Alarcon declared the results of the vote rigged (the left opposition did the same). On March 23, 1982, General Efrain Rios Montt carried out a coup d'etat.

Despite the fierce anti-communism of Rios Montt, the influence of MLN declined. This was partly due to the fact that Rios Montt created a new paramilitary structure. Peasant Civil Self-Defense Patrols ^[12] turned out to be strong competitors to Sandoval Alarkon squadrons recruited in the urban middle strata ^[13] .

In 1985, Mario Sandoval Valarcon again ran for the presidency of Guatemala, but took only fourth place with 12.5%. Christian Democrat Vinicio Cereso Arevalo was elected President. These results expressed the rejection by Guatemalan society of extremism and violence of any political color.

It is believed that the activities of Mano Blanca came to naught in the early 1980s. The action of May 18, 1988 - a grenade thrown at the TASS Guatemalan representative office - was initially attributed to this group, but this version was considered unfounded ^[14] .

In 1987, Mario Sandoval Alarcon participated in peace talks with left-wing radical rebels ^[15] . In 1991, he was elected to the Central American Parliament .

The settlement process in Guatemala was correlated with the general change in the world situation under the influence of perestroika in the USSR . At the turn of the 1980-1990s, ultra-right radicalism and anti-communist terrorism of the neo-fascists lost their relevance. The irreconcilable anti-communism of Sandoval Alarcon did not fit into the new political alignment. Gradually, he moved away from active politics. In 1993, he left the leadership of MLN. In 1995 - 1999, the party lost its influence and parliamentary representation, after which it ceased to exist.

Despite his extremely poor health (vital activity was supported by special equipment, there was almost no voice for many years), Sandoval Valaron died in old age, not having lived one month and one day before his 80th birthday.

Mario Sandoval Valarcon was married to Lisi Madraso Alarcon and had a son, Fernando Sandoval Alarcon.

Lisi Madraso was an active member of her husband's party, during his presidency in the parliament and vice-presidency oversaw social policy. After losing Sandoval Alarkon voices voiced his performances. Died in November 2011 ^[16] .

The activities of Mario Sandoval Alarcon are condemned as inhumane violence. However, he remained to the end many supporters who believed that under his leadership the MLN kept Guatemala from "falling into communism" ^[17] . For many representatives of the right-wing forces, Mario Sandoval Valaron posthumously remains a “political icon”, a bearer of Catholic traditions, ideas of freedom and patriotism ^[18] .

• Roberto D'Aubusson
• Jose Lopez Rega