— Ch. 1 · A Cadet's Burden —
Jacobo Árbenz.
~8 min read · Ch. 1 of 8
In 1932, Jacobo Árbenz entered the Polytechnic School of Guatemala as a cadet. He was twenty years old and had just lost his family's fortune when his father went bankrupt after developing a morphine addiction. The family moved to a rural estate provided by a wealthy friend out of charity. This shift from wealth to poverty forced him to choose between becoming an economist or joining the military through a scholarship program. He passed all entrance exams and became a cadet that year.
His time at the academy marked the beginning of a rapid ascent through the ranks. He excelled in his studies and earned the title of first sergeant, the highest honor given to cadets. Only six people received this distinction between 1924 and 1944. His abilities earned him unusual respect among officers, including Major John Considine, the US director of the school. A fellow officer later noted that officers treated him with rare respect for someone so young.
After graduating in 1935, he served as a junior officer at Fort San José in Guatemala City. Later, he worked under an illiterate Colonel in a small garrison in San Juan Sacatepéquez. During this period, he led squads of soldiers escorting chain gangs of prisoners to perform forced labor. The experience traumatized him. He felt like a capataz, or foreman, watching men suffer under brutal conditions. This exposure to violence against agrarian laborers contributed significantly to his progressive views.
The October Uprising
In May 1944, protests erupted against dictator Jorge Ubico at the university in Guatemala City. Ubico responded by suspending the constitution on the 22nd of June 1944. The demonstrations gained momentum, eventually forcing Ubico's resignation at the end of June. He appointed a three-person junta led by General Federico Ponce Vaides to succeed him. When congress met on the 3rd of July, soldiers held everyone at gunpoint and forced them to appoint Ponce Vaides interim president.
Opposition groups began organizing again, joined by prominent political and military leaders who deemed the Ponce regime unconstitutional. Árbenz was one of the few officers to protest these actions. Ubico had fired him from his teaching post at the Escuela Politécnica, so he lived in El Salvador organizing revolutionary exiles. He became one of the leaders of the plot within the army alongside Major Aldana Sandoval. Árbenz insisted that civilians be included in the coup despite protests from other military men involved.
On the 19th of October 1944, a small group of soldiers and students led by Árbenz and Francisco Javier Arana attacked the National Palace. This event later became known as the October Revolution. They were joined the next day by other factions of the army and the civilian population. Initially, the battle went against the revolutionaries, but after an appeal for support, their ranks swelled with unionists and students. They subdued police and army factions loyal to Ponce Vaides. On the 20th of October, Ponce Vaides surrendered unconditionally.