The Guatemalan Coup is something not many people learn about in their primary education, despite it being a turning point in the US and Guatemalan histories. The Guatemalan coup was caused by a CIA backed movement created by the US government, the United fruit Company and their PBS Success and PBSFORTUNE operation. These operations are the United States operations that were intended to take down Jacobo Arbenz after his Decree 900 land reform policy. The first of these, PBSFORTUNE, failed and was succeeded by PBSUCCESS. In this essay I will be discussing the Guatemalan coup and the intervention by the US in the staging of the coup.
My research question is asking how can we take what we learn from the coup and then use it to examine the current government interventions in Latin America. In learning this, we can dictate what and how our governments’ actions affect those of the people who are involved. In the sources I reflect how we can learn from our past and how we can dissect our involvement in other Countries affairs. I also think it is very important to consider the involvement the United fruit company had in the coup, as their lobbying against the land reform of Arbenz was a significant factor in the US putting a new dictator in power after the coup.
The primary sources I use in my project show us the background and planning of the operation of PBSUCCESS and the original failure of PBSFORTUNE. I chose this selection of documents because I think that the collection of these documents is very important in showing us the total corruption that occurred during this time in history. Throughout these sources we see the connection of control through Propaganda, corruption through lobbying, and the power the United States had over Guatemala during the time. I felt the first five government documents I chose were really useful in gaining a general idea of the coup. I chose the document “Amnesty International, Guatemala Update (1983)” because it gives the reader an idea of the aftermath just almost 10 years later, after the coup ended. The human rights group, Amnesty International, explains how the government is not taking responsibility for the disappearance and deaths of individuals, instead blaming them on Death squads active during the time.
The second government document is a collection from the CIA in regards to assasinations, operations and selections of individuals before and during the coup. There are five documents in this collection. In them we learn one of the more shocking and brutal sides of the coup, A assassination manuel detailing the tools, the methods, and the procedures of the assasinations. This is where we get the most brutal quotes, “the manual notes in cold clinical terms, “puncture wounds of the body cavity may not be reliable unless the heart is reached….Absolute reliability is obtained by severing the spinal cord in the cervical region.” The manual also notes that to provide plausible denial, “no assassination instructions should ever be written or recorded.” (CIA, summary, 95). This shows the ruthless brutality of the policies during the time. In this collection, we also have a document in regards to PBSUCCESS. We learn the procedures, planning and people behind the operation during this time. “Guatemala operation, known as PBSUCCESS, was both more ambisious and more thoroughly successful than either precedent. Rather than helping a prominent contender gain power with a few inducements, PBSUCCESS used an intensive paramilitary and psychological campaign to replace a popular, elected government with a political nonentity. (CIA, pg. 6, 1997).
The third document is a forces agreement between the United States and Guatemala in 2020. This document shows the change in Guatemala’s military power over the years. In this government release we see Guatemala making demands for such things such as training for US individuals, as well as Guatemala accepting all US drivers licences without tests. (US Embassy, pg 2).
The fourth document is a document reporting on the status of PBSUCCESS. This document goes into farther detail on the budget and in depth on the planning on PBSUCCESS. This document tells about the distribution of radio propeganda, cartoons, photographs and news articles to lessen the, at the current time, high, popular support of Arbenz at the time. The goal of the propeganda was to allow the morale to get so low that the junta assembled by the United States could come in and take over with very little resistance.
The fifth government document is a overview and reporting on what went wrong during the PBSFORTUNE operation in Guatemala. They mention ship failure, and lack of the ability to maintain proper power during the operation. This is important to note and learn about, as this operation’s failure then leads into the planning and creation of PBSUCCESS, and with it, the Guatemalan coup.
The other sources, that consist of a news report, a speech, and a personal account, are important to learn about, as they show the truth behind the propaganda. In the speech, we see Arevalo’s dedication to genuinely improving the lives of the Guatemalan people. He talks about his degree 900 land reform policies and more. In the news report, we see the report on the assasination of Gautemalan dictator, Carlos Castillo Armas by gunshot wound. It tells us a lot about the opinions at the time, as the news report calls him a friend of democracy. The personal account tells us a much more simple worded explaination of the operation. This includes the plan, liberation, changes in government and propoganda behind it.
In conclusion, these sources show us the switches between dictators and democratically elected presidents in Guatemala, the planning, brutality, corruption by corperations and propaganda behind PBSUCCESS, the failure of PBSFORTUNE and the changes made for the next operation to take place. These documents all show us the intense and possibly unneccessary intervention by the United States in Guatemala, and allows us to think deeply about the possible consequences in the current interventions happening recently.
Sources:
Amnesty International USA. (1983, December 22). Guatemala update–Amnesty International’s human rights concerns in Guatemala since the August 1983 coup which brought General Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores to power. Ohio Link. https://ohiolink-wooster.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01OHIOLINK_WOOSTER/13jbtfi/alma991019682609708591
U.S. Department of State. (n.d.-a). U.S. Department of State. https://www.state.gov/guatemala-20-1201
Status of PBSUCCESS | cia foia (foia.cia.gov). (1953, October 29). https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/02627759
Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room | CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov). (n.d.-a). https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/
YouTube. (2014, April 13). Assassination Of Armas. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwPPMgy2fyQ
CIA and assassinations: The Guatemala 1954 documents. The National Security Archive. (n.d.). https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/index.html
The guatemala reader. History, Culture, Politics. (n.d.). https://dukeupress.edu/the-guatemala-reader