In 1953 Guatemala was in the midst of having democracy, when the CIA came and took it all away just like they had to Iran. President Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles came to the conclusion that the democratic government is actually Communist, therefore they must shut it down. Guillermo Toriello, the Guatemalan Foreign Minister could not understand how the Unites States was categorizing Guatemala as a communist country so he came up with his own thesis. Guillermo Toriello quotes
“The United States was categorizing “as ‘communism’ every manifestation of nationalism or economic independence, and desire for social progress, any intellectual curiosity, and any interest in progressive liberal reform” (Killing Hope 73)
This is what …show more content…
The direct message that got to the American civilians is that Guatemalans were living under a “Communist type of terrorism”. While the only terror cast amongst the Guatemalans was the CIA. The CIA’s plan was to assassinate members of the political party until Arbenz resigned in June 1954. This was a carefully strategized plan to the point where they were thinking of what objects to kill these 58 targets with. Although Arbenz and his top aides were able to flee the country after he resigned, between 1954 and 1990 human rights groups estimated that the successive military regimes murdered more than 100,000 Guatemalan civilians. (CIA and Assassinations) This coup all began when the Americans were paranoid about Soviet domination over the Canal between Texas and Panama. This is what John Peurifoy the US Ambassador to Guatemala feared while others thought Guatemala would become the base from which the Soviets could seize the canal from. In the meantime the Soviets had made no military or diplomatic agreements with Guatemala, these hypothetical agreements were being made up by the Americans that’s how paranoid they were. “All the better to deceive us!” (Killing Hope 73). Arbenz was …show more content…
The saw Arbenz as a huge threat, they even offered him a significant amount of money to step down from his presidential role. This is when talk of an assassination turned into a reality. Peurifoy hired Diaz to do the dirty work and shoot a long list of political leaders in the next 24 hours, but Diaz declined the job. The CIA assassination plan failed yet again so the turned to bombs. With one call to the CIA department in Florida, planes flew out and bombed a military base and the government radio station. The people in Guatemala were terrified of what was yet to come so Arbenz’s only had one choice, to resign from being the President. This was the CIA’s chance to put an American trusted leader into power. Catillo Armas an anti-communist became the new president of Guatemala. The paranoia of communism reached a new high in August when the passed a new law. “Anyone a communist, with no rights to appeal. Those declared could be arbitrarily arrested for up to 6 months, could not own a radio or hold public office” (Killing Hope 81). Within four months the committee had come up with a list with 72,000 names. Armas passed another law stating that “Illiterates from the electoral rolls” therefore three quarters of Guatemalans were not allowed to vote. This reign of terror went on for another 40 years. While back in the United States President Eisenhower failed to mention that everything that