army. Sandoval was able to persuade Arana to join the coup in its final stages. On 19 October, Arana and Árbenz launched a coup against the government of Ponce Vaides. They were joined the next day by other factions of the army and the civilian population. Initially, the battle went against the revolutionaries, but after an appeal for support their ranks were swelled by unionists and students, and they eventually subdued the police and army factions loyal to Ponce Vaides. On 20 October, the next day, Ponce Vaides surrendered unconditionally. Both Arana and Arbenz fought with distinction in the coup. Arana, Árbenz and Jorge Toriello became members of a new three-person ruling junta, with Arana, who as a Major was the ranking army officer, becoming its senior member. Arana did not wish to turn over power to a civilian administration. He tried to persuade Árbenz and Toriello to postpone the election, and after Juan José Arévalo was elected President in December 1944, he asked them to declare the election results invalid. Árbenz and Toriello insisted that Arévalo be allowed to take power, which Arana reluctantly agreed to, on the condition that Arana's position as the commander of the military be unchallenged. Arévalo had no choice but to agree to this, and so the new Constitution of Guatemala, created in 1945, created a new position of "Commander of the Armed Forces," a position which was more powerful than that of the defense minister. He could only be removed by Congress, and even then only if he was found to have broken the law. When Arévalo was inaugurated as President, Arana stepped into this new position, and Árbenz was sworn in as defense minister. Chief of the Armed Forces After Arana assumed his new and powerful position, an American embassy official stated in a dispatch that Arana was the type of personality that might assume dictatorial power. On 16 December 1945, Arévalo was seriously injured in a car accident and incapacitated for a period. The leaders of the Revolutionary Action Party (PAR), the party that supported the government, were afraid that Arana would take the opportunity to launch a coup. A handful of its leaders approached Arana and made a deal with him, which later came to be known as the Pacto del Barranco (Pact of the Ravine). Arana agreed to refrain from seizing power with the military; in return, the PAR