A Brief Note On Sofia Bolaos United States Vested Interest In Guatemala

Sofia Bolaos United States Vested Interest in Guatemala, 1954 Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Americans were interested in Central and South American land for agricultural production. By the 1930s, with the emergence of the American owned United Fruit Company (UFCO), economic and political control in Latin American countries grew the wealth of the company and individual Americans holding shares of the UFCO. As a result, Guatemala was greatly affected by the UFCO’s reach in Central America. In 1944, the first democratically elected president, leftist, Juan José Arévalo began land and labor reform which was continued by Jacobo rbenz, elected in 1950. Decree 900, enacted under Arbenz, aimed to give unused land back to Guatemalans,

government in 1952. However, a suspicious tone present throughout the report indicates that the US government was looking for reasons to intervene and overthrow Arbenz’s government. The report claims that Arbenz appeared to have collaborated with communists. These “communists” that were vaguely referenced likely refer to a small number of appointed officials in Arbenz’s government who were known communists. However, they did not pose any real threat to the United States. Additionally, Arbenz distanced himself further from communism with Decree 900. The report acknowledges that Arbenz’s Decree 900 is modeled after the New Deal. It also states that Arbenz did not personally agree with Soviet Communists, nor did he intend to integrate any communist ideas into governance. Despite the lack of specificity, the threat of communism posed as motivation for the U.S. government to protect their economic interests in Guatemala. As the U.S. looked for a reason to intervene, Section 1 of the report places blame on a small “clique” of communists who the author believed were capable of staging a coup, rather than Arbenz

Dulles gave a radio address to the American public in 1952. The address directly claimed the presence of pervasive communist influence in Guatemala, violation of the Monroe Doctrine, and salvation of the country by American vows to stop the spread of communism. Dulles’ interest in Guatemala was influenced greatly by his brother, Allen Dulles, an investor in the UFCO. Many U.S. officials had ties to the UFCO, thus intensifying the U.S. interest in Guatemala. Claims of a communist threat in Guatemala served as the perfect scapegoat for the U.S. to covertly protect its stronghold on the economy of Guatemala. Operation PBS success was triumphant, unsupported, but easily accepted belief that there was a communist problem in Guatemala. U.S. officials like Dulles did not hesitate in claiming that the Kremlin (Soviet Union) was directly responsible for the spread of communism in Guatemala. Dulles states that, in violation of the Monroe Doctrine, there had been a direct attack on the United States through the perceived communist presence in Guatemala which was justification enough for U.S. intervention. The threat to U.S. interests in Guatemala began with the emergence of democracy and land