- Title: GUATEMALA: FUNERAL OF GUATEMALA PRESIDENT
- Date: 1st January 1957
- Summary: No available shotlist Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 15th January 1957 12:00
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- Location: GUATEMALA
- Country: Guatemala
- Reuters ID: LVAAJE0IYJJ98SDURQCKZO4O7E05
- Story Text:More than 200,000 people filled the streets of Guatemala City on Tuesday, July 30, to witness the funeral of President Castillo Armas who was assassinated on Saturday, 27, by a member of his personal guard.
The President was shot dead as he was walking through his dining room accompanied by his wife, and the assassin - who was later found to be a member of the Communist Party - then shot himself.
The President came to power after leading a revolt against the pro-Communist regime in 1954. His successor is Vice-President Luis Arturo Gonzales-Lopez who was sworn in as President on the day following the shooting.
At the same time, the cabinet also declared a state of siege - modified martial law.
After lying-in-state in the Presidential palace, the body of the former President was taken for burial on a gun-carriage towed by a military jeep.
Fronted by several army units, the procession made its way slowly through the streets of the capital, followed closely by the new President, Colonel Francisco Oliva, and Archbishop Mariano Rossell.
Before the funeral, when the coffin was bricked up in the chapel wall, various people made public speeches in appreciation of the dead man. They included the Minister of Health, Carlos Sosa Barillas, and the Army Chief, Colonel Francisco Oliva. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS - SOURCE TO BE VERIFIED
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