César Montenegro Paniagua

César Montenegro Paniagua (October 1920 – April 1970) (died 1922-1970) was a communist Guatemalan politician, who was assassinated on April 7, 1970.

He was born into one of Guatemala's largest and most influential families and was one of twelve children. His father was an army general while his mother was a home maker. He graduated as a teacher but quickly became involved in politics and enthralled inequality and poverty in Guatemala. He became involved in Guatemala's first communist party and quickly became a syndicalist.

In 1945 he married hotelier and socialite Maria Dolores Vega Correu (1924-2007), with whom he had three children, Maria Teresa, Francisco and Domingo Rafael.

He served as diputado during the presidency of Guatemala's freely-elected, socialist-leaning president Jacobo Árbenz, 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, he and his family managed to escape into the embassy of Mexico where they claimed political refuge and went into exhile.

After his return to Guatemala with his family, César Montenegro Paniagua was kidnapped, tortured and murdered during the Julio César Méndez Montenegro's presidency, and it is rumored the assassination was undertaken with presidential sanction. Mendez Montenegro was his first cousin and did not attend the funeral however he did send a funeral wreath.

His surviving children, Maria Teresa and Domingo Rafael are currently in political exhile in Australia with their respective families. The rest of the Montenegro clan continues to flourish in Guatemala. [1]