The source I chose was The Guatemalan Reader. I am focusing specifically on two chapters from this book. This section will focus on Arevalo’s A new Guatemala. This was created by Juan Jose Arevalo. It was a speech titled “Conservatives, Liberals and Socialists.”. He created this speech after he became elected as Guatemala’s first democratically elected president to connect with the people.
This is important historically because it focuses on a speech from the first elected president of Guatemala after the Coup. This is important because it allows us to hear the thoughts, opinions and ideals of someone who was a key player the Guatemalan Coup. This contributes overall to the history because he is a key contributor to the coup and played a role in bringing freedom to Guatemala.
“During the entire twentieth century, Guatemala has been neither liberal nor conservative. It has been a people without political expression, governed by men who have been ideologically empty.”
Source
Arévalo, Juan José. “A New Guatemala.” In The Guatemala Reader: History, Culture, Politics, edited by Greg Grandin, Deborah T. Levenson, and Elizabeth Oglesby. Duke University Press, 2011. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1198vws.46.