Julio César Méndez Montenegro

Julio César Méndez Montenegro was a Guatemalan academic who served as the 34th president of Guatemala from July 1966 to July 1970. Mendez was elected on a platform promising democratic reforms and the curtailment of military power, and he was the only civilian to occupy Guatemala's presidency during the long period of military rule between 1954 and 1986. His election and swearing in was considered a major turning point for the long military-led Guatemala. He was the first cousin of César Montenegro Paniagua whose kidnapping, torture and murder during the Julio César Méndez presidency is rumored to have been undertaken with presidential sanction.