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One significant improvement, however, is that urban killings have declined. Guatemala City is now virtually free of terror. "There are no death squads in front of the National Palace any more," reported one U.S. congressional staff member wryly after a visit. Guatemalans stroll the capital's streets again, night clubs are full and handguns are much less evident than before the March coup. Rios Montt has dismantled police and army death squads and put the national police chief, Germán Chupina, under house ar rest. He has also threatened that former Interior Minister Donaldo Alvarez Ruiz and other members of the old regime who have fled the country will be arrested if they return. In another attempt to under cut the guerrillas, the President has declared a broad amnesty, to begin this month, for anyone involved in antigovernment activities. After that, he intends to place disputed areas under military law and execute some guerrillas publicly.
Despite his political accomplish ments, many Guatemalans remain un comfortable over Rios Montt's religious convictions. "There are two juntas in Guatemala," according to a jest, "a political one and a religious one." Indeed, Rios Montt has brought two elders of his church into the government: Bianci as public relations director and Alvaro Contreras as his private secretary. He frequently seeks the counsel of other elders. Adds James DeGolyer, an elder who has come from the U.S. to help the Guatemalan congregation: "We pray for Efrain and the brothers. Thousands of people are praying for them in the U.S. too. We have 24-hour prayer chains in the church for them. We believe that prayer coverage is very important."
Each Sunday evening at 9, Rios Montt appears on national television to deliver a spiritual talk. The program be gins with a picture of a sunset over famed Lake Atitlán, followed by Rios Montt in civilian clothes standing in a garden filled with trees and chirping birds. "Good evening," he begins typically. "I sincerely thank you for the opportunity that you give me to be with you tonight. It cannot be any other way." Some Guatemalans, as a result, call their President "the maid" because, like household maids, he comes out on Sunday.
Despite his charisma, and apart from his prayer chain, Rios Montt has no firm power base. In time, that deficiency could cause him trouble. Already some of the young officers who put him into power are chafing over his seizure of the presidency last week and his incessant moralizing. "We made this coup d'état to do away with continuismo, "complains one lieutenant. "Now this man is taking us back to the situation that led us to mount the coup in the first place." in the first place." — By Spencer Davidson.
Reported by Johanna McGeary/ Washington and James Willwerth/Guatemala City