Guatemala's perfect storm : the relationship between General Efraín Ríos Montt, the news media, and the U.S religious right.

This thesis explores the connections between General Efraín Ríos Montt and the conservative evangelical Christians in the United States through the lens of secular and Protestant media. In order to make sense of the two competing images of Ríos Montt, the secular media used rhetoric to discredit on Ríos Montt’s religious convictions while the religious press cast suspicion on the human rights accusations leveled against him. This thesis will fill this gap in the current discussions of Ríos Montt’s role in Guatemala’s history. By looking in-depth at media coverage of him from not only the Christian press, but also the secular press, this thesis works to advance an understanding of the unlikely alliance between U.S. conservative evangelicals and a Guatemalan dictator.