Questions about 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What was the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état and why did it happen?
The 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état was a CIA covert operation, code-named PBSuccess, that overthrew the democratically elected President Jacobo Árbenz on the 27th of June 1954. The U.S. government was motivated by Cold War fears of communist influence, pressure from the United Fruit Company whose landholdings were being expropriated under Árbenz's agrarian reform law, and deep personal ties between Eisenhower administration officials and the company.
What was Operation PBSuccess and how much did it cost?
Operation PBSuccess was the CIA covert operation authorized by President Eisenhower in August 1953 to overthrow Jacobo Árbenz. Its initial budget was 2.7 million U.S. dollars for psychological warfare and political action, with the total estimated at between 5 and 7 million dollars. More than 100 CIA agents worked on the planning, and the operation trained at least 1,725 foreign guerrillas plus thousands of additional militants.
What was Decree 900 and how did it affect the United Fruit Company?
Decree 900 was Jacobo Árbenz's agrarian reform law, which expropriated uncultivated land from holdings larger than 673 acres and redistributed it to landless peasants. Of the United Fruit Company's 550,000 acres in Guatemala, 85 percent was idle and thus subject to expropriation. In 1953, the government took 200,000 acres, paying 2.99 U.S. dollars per acre, the value the company had itself declared for tax purposes.
Who was Carlos Castillo Armas and how did he come to power?
Carlos Castillo Armas was a Guatemalan army officer who had been exiled in 1949 after a failed coup attempt against President Arévalo. The CIA paid him a monthly retainer of 3,000 U.S. dollars and financed his rebel force. After his invasion force of 480 men failed militarily, psychological warfare and U.S. pressure on the Guatemalan military forced Árbenz to resign. Castillo Armas became president of the ruling junta on the 7th of July 1954, ten days after Árbenz resigned.
What was the Voice of Liberation radio station in the 1954 Guatemalan coup?
Voice of Liberation, La Voz de la Liberación, was a CIA-run propaganda station that began broadcasting on the 1st of May 1954. It claimed to transmit from Guatemalan jungles but was actually produced in Miami by Guatemalan exiles and broadcast through a mobile transmitter in Central America. It ran two-hour bulletins twice a day, broadcasting exaggerated accounts of rebel advances, and is credited by historians as a key factor in demoralizing the Guatemalan army.
What were the long-term consequences of the 1954 Guatemalan coup?
The coup installed a military dictatorship that reversed all social reforms, with estimates of between hundreds and five thousand executions in the first few months. It triggered a civil war beginning in 1960 that lasted until 1996, during which a UN-backed commission found that 93% of human rights violations were committed by the U.S.-backed military, including a genocidal campaign against the Maya population in the 1980s. The coup also influenced Che Guevara, who sheltered in Guatemala City during the invasion and later cited the experience as a key factor in his turn toward armed struggle.