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Guatemala
(Death toll of U.S.-backed
coup, interventions, and U.S. backed-dictatorships/death squads 1954-1980s: 200,000)
Instances of Use of United States Forces Abroad 1798-19931920 - U.S. forces protected the American Legation and other American interests, such as the cable
station, during a period of fighting between Unionists and the Government of Guatemala.
US-Guatemala (1901-2002)1901-1944 Guatemala suffers under a succession of dictators. During the period, the United
Fruit Company (UFCO), which is exempt from taxes, exerts significant influence within the country.
1944-1954
The dictator Jorge Ubico is overthrown and Guatemala enjoys what is known as the “ten years of spring” with two
popularly elected and reformist presidents. The second president during this era, President Jacobo Arbenz (1951-1954), permits
free expression, legalizes unions, allows diverse political parties, and initiates basic socioeconomic reforms. One key program
is a moderate land reform effort aimed at alleviating the suffering of the rural poor, by which only plantations of very high
acreage are affected, and only in cases where a certain percentage of such acreage is in fact lying unused. In these extreme
cases, the unused portions of the land are not expropriated, but simply purchased by the Guatemalan government at the same
value declared on the owner’s tax forms.The property is then resold at low rates to peasant cooperatives. To set an
example, President Arbenz starts with his own lands.
1953 The land redistribution collides with the interests
of the United Fruit Company (UFCO), for whom 85 precent of the 550,000 acres they own are uncultivated. The US government
demands extra compensation for the United Fruit Company over what has already been given.
1953 Charles R. Burrows
of the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs writes: “Guatemala has become an increasing threat to the stability of Honduras
and El Salvador. Its agrarian reform is a powerful propaganda weapon; its broad social program of aiding the workers and peasants
in a victorious struggle against the upper classes and large foreign enterprises has a strong appeal to the populations of
Central American neighbors where similar conditions prevail.”
1954 CIA covert Operation PB Success successfully
removes Arbenz from power. The CIA director at this time, Allen Dulles, was formerly the president of the United Fruit Fruit
Company (UFCO) and the previous CIA director and under-secretary of state, General Walter Bedell Smith, is on the company’s
board of directors. Smith will become UFCO’s president following the overthrow. Allen Dulles’ brother, John Dulles,
who is Secretary of State, previously worked as a lawyer defending the United Fruit Company.
1954 Following
the CIA coup, Guatemala plunges into a civil war and 40 years of american-trained death squads, torture, disappearances, mass
executions, with an estimated toll of 100,000 victims.
Books/Articles/Excerpts:
Killing Hope by William Blum: Guatemala 1953-1954State Terrorism and the United States: From Counterinsurgency to the War on Terrorism by Frederick H.
Gareau Guatemala: A Country IncommunicadoA "killing field" in the Americas: US policy in GuatemalaGuatemala: A Brief HistoryKilling Hope by William Blum: Guatemala 1962-1980sGuatemalan Death Squad DossierMaking Guatemala a Killing Field by Noam ChomkyHistory of Guatemala's Death SquadsCIA and Assassinations: The Guatemala 1954 DocumentsGuatemala: Between Justice and TerrorThe Persistence of Terror - GuatemalaIsrael and GuatemalaU.S. Policy in Guatemala, 1966-1996 The Press Has Blood On Its Hands - in GuatemalaRetaliation in GuatemalaLessons on Justice from GuatemalaUnearthing Guatemala's Macabre PastGuatemala Bleeds; US Press ShrugsExtrajudicial Executions and Clandestine Graves in GuatemalaGuatemalan Refugees: A Difficult ReturnEconomy
World Bank Mining Project in GuatemalaLand Reform and Conflict In GuatemalaGuatemala and CAFTAGlobal Bully Goes To Guatemala
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