Name Cesar Paniagua Role Politician | Assassinated 1970 | |
César Montenegro Paniagua (1922–1970) was a communist Guatemalan politician, who was assassinated on April 7, 1970.
Montenegro was born into one of Guatemala's largest and most influential families and was one of twelve children. His father was a successful army general while his mother was a home maker. He graduated as a teacher but quickly became involved in politics and enthralled with the inequality and poverty in Guatemala. He became involved in Guatemala's first Socialist party and quickly became a syndicalist.
In 1945, Montenegro married hotelier and socialite Maria Dolores Vega Correu (1924–2007), with whom he had three children, Maria Teresa, Francisco and Domingo Rafael.
Montenegro served as a member of parliament during the presidency of Guatemala's freely-elected, socialist-leaning president Jacobo Arbenz, who was overthrown by a small group of Guatemalans backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The CIA codename for the coup was Operation PBSUCCESS, its second successful overthrow of a foreign government. During the coup, Montenegro and his family escaped into the Mexican Embassy where they claimed political refuge and went into exile.
After his return to Guatemala with his family, César Montenegro was kidnapped, tortured and murdered during Julio César Méndez's presidency, and it is rumored the assassination was undertaken with presidential sanction. Méndez was his first cousin and did not attend the funeral however he did send a funeral wreath.
Domingo Rafael fled Guatemala in the late 1980s leaving behind his estranged wife and four children. He moved to Australia where he claimed political asylum, however some may say this claim was undeserved as he was never involved in the political struggle in Guatemala. Maria Dolores arrived in Australia with the aid of Amnesty International in 1992 where she lived out the reminder of her life until 2007 when she lost her battle against dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Maria Teresa and her only daughter Nayeli Maria arrived in Australia in 1993, where they obtained a refugee status because of her involvement with General Benedicto Lucas Garcia and his family, her work with UNICEF, and a paper written about the war torn area of Xajul. Maria Teresa's involvement in the guerilla remains unclear.
Maria Teresa and Domingo Rafael are currently still in political exile in Australia with their respective families. The rest of the Montenegro clan continues to flourish in Guatemala.