Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Santiago Aroca
Riding the Tiger: Ramiro de León Carpio's Battle for Human Rights in Guatemala.
Miami: Brickell Communications, 1995. 0964842602 255 pages.
Volume, measuring approximately 6.5" x 9.75", is bound in dark blue cloth, with stamped gilt lettering to spine and dust jacket. Book and dust jacket are new. Jacket is preserved in mylar.
"Guatemala, the country that served as Spain's general headquarters and center of political stability for Central America during the colonial years, has lived the sad irony of consistently coming short of consolidating a democratic government after its independence early in the 19th century.
The situation worsened in the last four decades. Since a CIA-backed military coup d'etat toppled the government of Jacobo Arbenz in 1954, the mpst populated country in Central America has been tapped in a horrible civil war, and the doors to its presidential palace have time and again been pushed down  by the unscrupulous military.
Amid the resulting chaos, however, dim hope begins to grow. In 1993, an attorney and human rights champion, Ramiro de León Carpio, was installed in the presidency by the Guatemaln Congress to defend the nation's democratic continuity, in peril after a self-coup attempt by his predecessor submerged the Central American nation in turbulence.
Surprisingly, De León Carpio managed to accomplish his assignment without the support of the military, the suspicious bourgeoisie, or any political party.
This book, a long and profound conversation with President De León Carpio, tells this story. A story carrying in fluent dialogue the agony of every day riding a tiger in the middle of a tempest. A story that, if it ends well, might go to history in no lesser terms of a heroic feat."