This week’s events find me working in Guatemala. Many will be aware of the recent Fuego volcano eruption and the damage it caused and families that it has affected. As a result, we are working to build homes for those displaced by the eruption and to lead wellness clinics using essential oils (You can check out some of what my wife does over at Small Queendom) to help them better meet their needs.
Most Americans likely could not even locate Guatemala on a map and few would give Central America in general much regard. Our eyes are typically focused on places like the Middle East, Eastern Europe, or Eastern Asia, places deemed more unstable and more conducive to better media ratings. But it wasn’t always so. During the Cold War years, from roughly 1946 to the early ’90s, Central America experienced a number of episodes that drew intense American attention. Most are familiar with the more notable military conflicts during the Cold War,
Guatemala’s Democratic Spring
Guatemala has not enjoyed a history of successful democracy. In the years prior to 1944, it was governed by something of a military dictatorship under Jorge Ubico. But inspired by other budding nationalist movements and the political environment in post-World-War-II 1944, Guatemala experienced an “October Revolution” of sorts, a relatively bloodless coup that led to its first democratic election. Their first elected president became Juan Arevalo. While in office, he worked to institute a number of social programs that Guatemala had previously lacked, such as social insurance, trade union rights, and some forms of property tax. But regardless of whether one would agree with the changes made, Arevalo peacefully stepped down at the end of his term and handed the reigns to his successor, Jacobo Arbenz.
Arbenz’ childhood was a bit of a unique one. He was of Swiss descent, child to an immigrant father. He had worked his way up through the ranks of the military academy to become a colonel in the army and had participated in the 1944 coup against Ubico. But his vision for Guatemala was a noble one. Arbenz sought to “convert our country from a dependent nation with a semi-colonial economy into an economically independent country; to convert Guatemala from a country bound by a predominantly feudal economy into a modern capitalist state; and to make this transformation in a way that will raise the standard of living of the great mass of our people to the highest level.” Worthy goals, indeed. But, as is so often the case, the powers that be were none too happy about this future or the changes it might bring.
The Infamous United Fruit Company
The landscape of American economic history is dotted with a number of noteworthy trusts and corporations whose names live on in the social conscience, names like Standard Oil, Dole, or Carnegie Steel. One such name that is not quite as well known but deserves to live in infamy is that of United Fruit. Through working with Guatemalan governments in what we would term “crony capitalist” arrangements, the United Fruit company entrenched itself into the Guatemalan economic system and enjoyed a privileged status over other farmers and producers. Over time, they were able to seize large swaths of land, working out legal claims with the dictator of the day, then operating at their own leisure. One particularly heinous episode included a ninety-nine-year lease on especially fertile land along the Pacific coast with guaranteed exemption from all taxes for its duration.
The situation for the working class in Guatemala was indeed dire at the expense of the politically privileged. As Michael Swanson notes, “Half of the farmland in the country was owned by 300 families and the United Fruit Company, which was the largest landowner in the nation. Despite rich farmland, the country had to import much of its basic foods, because only a quarter of the land was under cultivation… Internal [United Fruit] company documents showed that the company valued its land at nineteen times the value it was reporting to the government. The company also underreported its production by 700 percent in order to esc
And United Fruit was inseparably politically and economically connected both within the country and with the United States. The Dulles brothers of US political infamy had done legal work for the company and owned stock. John and Thomas Cabot, working for the US State Department, were shareholders, Thomas having once served as their president. And numerous cabinet members had served as board members. United Fruit was well established in Guatemala, as its largest landowner and private employer and it possessed an almost majority share stock in the rail system. So when Arbenz came to power and threatened the established order, United Fruit knew just who to lobby for possible regime change.
America’s Next Cold War Victim
Quickly after becoming president, Arbenz announced a series of reforms for the purpose of carrying out his proposed goals for Guatemala’s economic future. He proposed the construction of a public electric utility company, threatening the monopoly held by Guatemala’s Electric Bond & Share. He also proposed building a new public port with a roadway connecting it and the
Those fears became reality in 1953 when the government seized 234,000 acres from United Fruit’s lease, offering them the declared tax value. This was the final straw that set Arbenz on the path to overthrow. To Washington, this land reform reeked of communist influence. In point of fact, however, with a population of 3 million, there existed only 4,000 communists in the country holding only four out of sixty-one seats in its Congress. And even though the US possessed no evidence whatsoever of diplomatic or political ties to the Soviet Union, and that its communist movements were indigenous to the country, the newly energized Eisenhower administration, fresh off its Iranian overthrow of Mohammed Mossadegh, decided to continue on its own confidence that a tie must exist.
United Fruit’s regime change efforts began with the hiring of Edward Bernays, the father of public relations, the master of propaganda, with the task of launching a comprehensive campaign to blacken the reputation of the Guatemalan government as corrupt and communist agents in Central America. After the successful coup in Iran, Bernays was convinced that it was possible and profitable to support such a campaign in the United States. He worked within the press and Congress to coordinate the message that Guatemala was falling victim to Marxism and the “Kremlin’s design for world conquest.” Especially willing were Massachusetts politicians like Henry Cabot Lodge, member of a family with a history of foreign adventurism who also benefited over the years from United Fruit’s crony profits.
The CIA Gets to Work
In December of 1953, $3 million dollars were set aside for the CIA to officially carry out the overthrow of Arbenz. Carried out from the American embassy in Guatemala, the man for the job was John Peurifoy. A former ambassador to Greece and a sort of political lackey in character, he was assigned to Guatemala shortly after. After meeting with Arbenz for the first and only time, and ignoring any explanation or motivation for Arbenz’s government’s actions, he messaged Dulles saying, “if he is not a communist, he will certainly do until one comes along.” Working from a variety of locations around Guatemala, from southern Florida, Panama, and nearby Honduras and Nicaragua (who were also interested in the overthrow of Arbenz) the plan was to find a Guatemalan leader in exile that would oppose Arbenz, hire them an army,
The leader they eventually settled on was Castillo Armas, a well-known exiled leader of a previous coup attempt in Guatemala. With their leader chosen, the CIA went to work arranging the necessary conditions in Guatemala. One particularly tragic method of native propaganda used was that of the cooption of the local Catholic clergy to spread their message of revolution and resistance against the phantom threat of communism. All the while, an “underground” radio station, “Voice of Liberation”, actually run by the CIA, would be used to broadcast false news of civil unrest, protests, and violence.
John Dulles, brother of Allen and then Secretary of State, during a 1954 meeting of the Organization of American States, hijacked the regular business and tirelessly pursued the other Central and South American countries present with a proposed resolution, the Declaration of Caracas, which held that, should any regional state fall prey to communism, the surrounding states would be obligated to take action against it. Much to the dismay of many members present, the pressure was successful and the measure eventually passed.
Tragically, Arbenz would not always be of much help to his own cause. As the United States was previously Guatemala’s chief arms supplier, and the US having dissuaded other willing suppliers from dealing with Guatemala, Arbenz found it difficult to mount much of a defense against even this paper tiger of an orchestrated coup. Unfortunately, the only willing supplier left at that time seemed to be Czechoslovakia. In May of 1954, Arbenz imported Czech arms and US officials were quick to use the shipments as firm evidence of Soviet alignment. With the dominos set, on June 18 of that year, Castillo Armas led his small army across the Honduran-Guatemalan border and waited for orders.
The Messy Business of Regime Change
In the coming days, the action was hot and heavy but the intent was focused on deception. The “Voice of Liberation” broadcasted false reports of Armas’ advance through the countryside and CIA planes flew low to buzz government buildings and fired upon military targets to give credibility to the whole charade. All along, the US government feigned ignorance as to their involvement, officially stating, “the [State] department has no evidence that indicates this is anything other than a revolt of Guatemalans against the government.” Arbenz, knowing quite well what was happening rather forthrightly addressed his people, directly identifying Castillo Armas as working in league with United Fruit and the Dulles brothers to bring terror to their country.
In the end, successful secrecy of “Operation Success” and the political clout of the US over international politics was too much for Arbenz to weather and almost ten days later, on June 27, Arbenz agreed to surrender. Working with Peurifoy to arrange a military takeover, Arbenz’s military chiefs informed Arbenz that he was to be deposed and would be allowed to address the people one last time. With great sacrificial humility, he told his people that “A government different from mine…is preferable to twenty years of fascist bloody tyranny under the rule of the bands that Castillo Armas has brought into the country.”
But, alas, though this junta led by Carlos Enrique Diaz promised that they would never allow Armas to lead the country, Peurifoy and the Dulles brothers were determined. Only hours after taking power, Diaz was told that he was “just not convenient for the requirements of American foreign policy,” and himself replaced with a more loyal Colonel Elfegio Monzon. Though Diaz protested, he was convinced to
John Foster Dulles, in true patriotic fashion, triumphantly delivered the version of the story that would resonate through Cold War history:
“Led by Colonel Castillo Armas, patriots arose in Guatemala to challenge the Communist leadership and to change it. Thus the situation is being cured by the Guatemalans themselves.”
The Bottom Line
In the aftermath of the coup to install a loyal Castillo Armas, history attests to the destruction. Armas declared all labor unions illegal, banned political parties, and established a secret police. He banned books identified as subversive and used the