Guatemala
Our splendid little adventure in Guatemala in 1954 bears some resemblance to the Chilean episode, which is no coincidence: President Eisenhower’s discovery of the cost-effectiveness of covert operations laid the foundation for much of Cold-War policy. But Guatemala proved more exciting than the Chilean experience because the CIA didn’t merely funnel aid to insurgents, but rather participated firsthand in overthrowing the freely-elected government.
In 1944 Guatemala deposed the dictator Jorge Ubico, drafted a constitution patterned after that of the United States, and held free elections. Whereas ITT was the major force in Chile, the United Fruit Company played the predominant role in Guatemalan politics. On various occasions the Guatemalan government had attempted to tax the United Fruit Company’s incredibly valuable 178,000 acres of land, only to be told that the property was not worth nearly as much as estimated. In 1951, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was elected president of Guatemala, and one of his first actions was to nationalize much of the company’s property for the undeniably leftist purpose of re-distribution. In a clever twist, he offered the company compensation for the property equaling the low-ball figure that the company itself had previously insisted was accurate for purposes of calculating taxes. The company could not tolerate eating its own words like this, so it complained to the United States. Soon, the United States was delivering arms to neighboring Honduras and Nicaragua, where the CIA began training Guatemalan exiles for an invasion. When the invasion got under way, CIA-piloted planes bombed the capital and several other cities. Arbenz lost the support of his military, and before long the insurgent leader Carlos Castillo Armas assumed power as head of state. He subsequently executed more Guatemalans than had died during the hostilities.
To reiterate what should be obvious by now, this was a violation of Guatemala’s sovereignty and an illegal, aggressive use of force. Arbenz may have been leftist and/or socialist, but he was also the chosen leader of the Guatemalan people, and it reaches high comedy for the United States to tear down a fledgling, elective government in favor of a military dictatorship.
Our splendid little adventure in Guatemala in 1954 bears some resemblance to the Chilean episode, which is no coincidence: President Eisenhower’s discovery of the cost-effectiveness of covert operations laid the foundation for much of Cold-War policy. But Guatemala proved more exciting than the Chilean experience because the CIA didn’t merely funnel aid to insurgents, but rather participated firsthand in overthrowing the freely-elected government.
In 1944 Guatemala deposed the dictator Jorge Ubico, drafted a constitution patterned after that of the United States, and held free elections. Whereas ITT was the major force in Chile, the United Fruit Company played the predominant role in Guatemalan politics. On various occasions the Guatemalan government had attempted to tax the United Fruit Company’s incredibly valuable 178,000 acres of land, only to be told that the property was not worth nearly as much as estimated. In 1951, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was elected president of Guatemala, and one of his first actions was to nationalize much of the company’s property for the undeniably leftist purpose of re-distribution. In a clever twist, he offered the company compensation for the property equaling the low-ball figure that the company itself had previously insisted was accurate for purposes of calculating taxes. The company could not tolerate eating its own words like this, so it complained to the United States. Soon, the United States was delivering arms to neighboring Honduras and Nicaragua, where the CIA began training Guatemalan exiles for an invasion. When the invasion got under way, CIA-piloted planes bombed the capital and several other cities. Arbenz lost the support of his military, and before long the insurgent leader Carlos Castillo Armas assumed power as head of state. He subsequently executed more Guatemalans than had died during the hostilities.
To reiterate what should be obvious by now, this was a violation of Guatemala’s sovereignty and an illegal, aggressive use of force. Arbenz may have been leftist and/or socialist, but he was also the chosen leader of the Guatemalan people, and it reaches high comedy for the United States to tear down a fledgling, elective government in favor of a military dictatorship.
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