Arbenz, Armas, and the CIA

The early 1950s was a time of tension and uncertainty in the world. The Cold War replaced hot war. The New York Times carried news about a newly discovered Communist threat almost daily. Sen Joseph McCarthy would even accuse the CIA and other units of the Federal government of harboring 130 Communist infiltrators in their midst. The day after the Times reported the coup in Guatemala, it ran a notice that signs ordering civilians off the roads in the event of an air attack were to be taken down. Now that the Soviets had the hydrogen bomb the only hope for city dwellers was to flee to the countryside as quickly as possible. The Guatemalan Revolutionary government, while acknowledged by the US Embassy as having "an unusual reputation for incorruptibility", was a thorn in the side of UFCO continuing business as usual. Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, a leader in the Army, was elected president of Guatemala in 1951 and continued the Revolution’s moderate course. When Arbenz was elected in 1950, the State Dept. saw him as an "opportunist"; in other words, someone they thought they could deal with. UFCO continued pressing the State Dept. and the CIA for action. Neither organization seemed much inclined initially to take action, but the CIA quickly came around based on the views of the OPC. The OPC viewpoint quickly became the official one of the CIA, which pressured those in the State Dept. to come around in its views on Guatemala. The struggles of the revolutionary government were to provide a more secure economic future for the people of Guatemala.

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