PRESENTE

Sr. Gonzalez

Epaminondas Gonzalez was the President of Guatemala's Constitutional Court who in 1993, ensured that the Court did not support the self-coup of President Serrano Elias and made a ruling which paved the way for the peaceful and constitutional resolution of the crisis the President had created. Once the President fled, the Vice President who tried to assume the presidency was also prevented from usurping power and the Guatemalan Congress elected the Human Rights Ombudsman, Ramiro DeLeón Carpio, as the President, after a marathon session ending past midnight on a Saturday night. For his role in preventing a coup which would have undoubtedly led to severe repression, Epaminondas Gonzalez paid for with his life as he was gunned down. When we met him during that stormy week, we found a quiet self-assured and modest man who simply seemed to be doing his duty.