1954 CIA Coup'Etat in GuatemalaThe Guatemalan Coup D’état, which occurred between June 18 and June 27 of 1954, was a secret ploy carried out by the United States Central Intelligence Agency that overthrew former President Jacobo Arbenz from power, ended the Guatemalan Revolution, and brought the Carlos Castillo Armas, the leader of the country’s military into power—all of which caused the country of Guatemala to never have a democratically elected president ever again. The operations signed off by the Director of Central Intelligence, Walter Bedell, and President Truman, in 1952, were codenamed Operation PBSUCCESS, Operation PBFORTUNE, and Operation Sherwood.
Brief History of Guatemala Guatemala’s first dictator, Jorge Ubico, came into power years after Guatemala had been occupied by Germany and had known other strong dictators; ruling over Guatemala between 1930 and 1944, Ubico’s cruel regime, came to be recognized as the most, if not one of the most, repressive military dictatorships in the history of Central America. United States supported Ubico’s repressive and authoritarian oligarchy, due to the fact that he allowed hundreds of thousands of hectares of highly fertile land to the American United Fruit Company (UFCO), granted the right for the United States to establish bases in Guatemala, and provided cheap brutile labor at the expense of thousands of his people. In 1944, Ubico's inhumane policies resulted in military and intellectual lead riot against him, which would be later referred to as the "October Revolution". This revolt, resulted in Ubico being thrown from power and finally gave Guatemala the ability to hold its first democratic election. Juan José Arévalo who was the head of the left-wing, Revolutionary Action Party, won the election leading to a series of social reforms that brought relief for the Guatemalan population; of which included a set minimum wage law, the permanent right to vote, and funding for schools. Despite sharing similar values to that of United States government and the United Fruit Company, the United States and all other businesses located in Guatemala were opposed ot these reforms, as it lead for their labor to not be as cheap and gave rights to the Guatemalan people. Jacobo Arbenz, Arevalo’s defense minister, won the 1950’s elections, after Arevalo, and Arbenz continued the social reform policies and implemented further policies of land reform, which were disliked by the UFCO. This would’ve given the grants of land-holdings to peasants who had been victims of debt slavery by previous dictators, as well as redistributed land of big-holders to the poor. PBFORTUNE The UFCO, then after, influenced the United States government to overthrow Arbenz. The CIA overthrew Arbenz in 1954 with Operation PBFORTUNE after releasing propaganda statements in reflection and self-validation of the events: "[The land reforms are] an intensely nationalistic program of progress colored by the touchy, anti-foreign inferiority complex of the 'Banana Republic”; “Guatemalan Communist Personel [must] be disposed of during Military Operations”. The CIA, after using military force to overthrow the President with the help of Nicaraguan dictator Somoza, assigned military dictator Carlos Castillo Armas to reign over Guatemala for, what would be, the next three years. The CIA then created lists of “A” list personas, that included 58 influential politicians and powerful representative bodies in Guatemala that must be “neutralized through Executive Action”. The coup caused the Guatemalan Civil War in from November 13, 1960 to December 29, 1996 [36 years], and even resulted in a campaign of genocide against Mayan people, (~about 80% of the Guatemalan population). PBSUCCESS Operation Sherwood was the psychological-war angle that wanted to be had by the CIA, which included media releases, propaganda, and fear tactics. PBSUCCESS was the "last stage to roll up the (so-called) Communists" and assasinate A list contenders. The mission, approved by President Eisenhower in August of 1953, which was granted a budget of $2.7 million, initiated the CIA'S carry-out plan to assassinate dozens of influential entities in Guatemala, especially those in Arbenz's corner. It was this plan, that after Arbenz decided to flee Guatemala, installed the regime of Carlos Castillo Armas to power. Armas's succession to power resulted in the rounding up of hundreds of Guatemalans for executions; human rights groups have estimated about 100,000 civilian deaths.
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