Jueves negro (English: "Black Thursday") refers to a violent series of political demonstrations that created havoc in Guatemala City on 24 and 25 July 2003. In May 2003, the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG) political party selected former military dictator Efraín Ríos Montt as its candidate for the forthcoming November general election. However, his candidacy was initially rejected by the electoral registry and by two lower courts, on the grounds of a constitutional ban preventing former coup leaders from seeking the presidency (Ríos Montt had originally come to power by means of a coup d'état on 23 March 1982). On 14 July 2003, the Constitutional Court, which had had several judges appointed from the FRG, approved his candidacy for president, arguing that the terms of the 1985 Constituti