The Anti-Communist Unification Party ( es, Partido de Unificación Anticomunista, PUA) was a right-wing political party in

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

History

The party was formed in 1948 in order to support the candidacy of

Francisco Javier Arana Francisco Javier Arana Castro (; 3 December 1905 – 18 July 1949) was a Guatemalan military leader and one of the three members of the revolutionary junta that ruled Guatemala from 20 October 1944 to 15 March 1945 during the early part of the ...

in the 1950 presidential elections.Robert J. Alexander (1982) ''Political parties of the Americas'', Greenwood Press, p422 However, Arana was assassinated in the build-up to the elections, having been considered the main rival to

Jacobo Árbenz Juan Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán (; 14 September 191327 January 1971) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as the 25th President of Guatemala. He was Minister of National Defense from 1944 to 1950, and the second democraticall ...

of the Revolutionary Action Party. The PUA ultimately joined the National Electoral Union (an alliance including the Democratic Unity Party and the National Democratic Reconciliation Party), which nominated

Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes General José Miguel Ramón Ydígoras Fuentes (17 October 1895 – 27 October 1982) was the conservative President of Guatemala from 1958 to March 1963. He was also the main challenger to Jacobo Árbenz during the 1950 presidential election. He ...

as its candidate. Ydígoras finished second to Árbenz in the elections. The party later became part of the National Anti-Communist Front, supporting

Carlos Castillo Armas Carlos Castillo Armas (; 4 November 191426 July 1957) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who was the 28th president of Guatemala, serving from 1954 to 1957 after taking power in a coup d'état. A member of the right-wing Nation ...

. It won three seats in the 1955 parliamentary elections. In the 1958 general elections it was part of the alliance nominating José Luis Cruz Salazar, who finished as runner-up to Ydígoras. In the Congressional elections the PUA ran in an alliance with the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

and

Guatemalan Christian Democracy Guatemalan Christian Democracy (, DCG) was a political party in Guatemala. A moderate, reformist and anti-Communist party, it was a member of Christian Democrat International.Peter Calvert (2004) ''A Political and Economic Dictionary of Latin A ...

, with the three winning 20 of the 66 seats. It was dissolved after the 1963 coup. In 1983 the party was re-established by Lionel Sisniega Otero Barrios, a former member of the National Liberation Movement (MLN). Barrios had left the MLN after accusations that it was plotting a coup against

Ríos Montt Rios, Ríos or Riós are Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician surnames. The name has numerous origins. In Germany, Italy, France, UK, and the Americas the Ríos surname can also be found in the surname history books . The name was derived from the Sp ...

.Ciarán Ó Maoláin (1985) ''Latin American Political Movements'', Facts on File Publications, p150 In the 1984 Constitutional Assembly elections the PUA received 4% of the vote and won one of the 88 seats. In the

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

the following year it was one of three parties to nominate Otero as its presidential candidate; he finished last in a field of eight candidates with 2% of the vote. The three parties also ran together in the Congressional elections, failing to win a seat.

References

{{Guatemalan political parties Defunct political parties in Guatemala Political parties established in 1948 1948 establishments in Guatemala