Arevalo; Guatemalan President in the ‘40s

GUATEMALA CITY —  Former Guatemalan President Juan Jose Arevalo, whose five-year term in office during the 1940s was marked by a series of reforms, died early Sunday of heart failure, his cousin said.

Arevalo, 89, died at his home shortly after midnight.

“He was the first truly democratic president in Guatemalan history. We have him to thank for most of our social programs. When he was in office we had peace, stability,” cousin Ramiro Garcia de Paz told Reuters news agency.

A university professor, Arevalo took part in the Oct. 20, 1944, revolution led by dissident military officers, students and liberal professionals, which overthrew the military dictatorship of Gen. Jorge Ubico. Arevalo won the March 15, 1945, presidential election in a landslide victory.