Francisco Javier Arana

Francisco Javier Arana Castro was a Guatemalan military leader and one of the three members of the revolutionary junta that ruled Guatemala from 20 October 1944 to 15 March 1945 during the early part of the Guatemalan Revolution. A major in the Guatemalan army under the dictator Jorge Ubico, he allied with a progressive faction of the army to topple Ubico's successor Federico Ponce Vaides. He led the three-man junta that oversaw the transition to a democratic government, although he was personally reluctant to allow the elected President Juan José Arévalo to take office in 1945. He served as the Chief of the Armed Forces in the new government until 1949. On 18 July 1949 he was killed in a shootout with supporters of the Arévalo government after he threatened to launch a coup.

5 December 1905

Born on the same birth date (5 December 1905): Otto Preminger

Born on the same birth day (5 December): Clyde Cessna • Danny Wicks • Ellis Parker Butler • Emeric Pressburger • Frankie Muniz • Gershom Scholem • Johannes Heesters • John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe • Józef Piłsudski • Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg • Ladislav Novák • LeGarrette Blount • Lee Chapman • Lin Biao • Margaret Cho • Miyuki Kawanaka • Nivek Ogre • Osvaldo Golijov • Serge Chapleau • Sonny Boy Williamson II • Tina Charles (basketball) • W. D. Amaradeva

Born in the same month (December 1905): Ann Barzel • Anthony Powell • Bill O'Reilly (cricketer) • Gerard Kuiper • Gilbert Roland • Giovanni Lurani • Howard Hughes • Irving Kahn • Kenneth Rexroth • Käte Fenchel • Les Ames • Otto Preminger • Pierre Brasseur • Pierre Levegh • Piet Hein (scientist) • Robert Henriques • Ruben Nirvi • William Loeb III