The 1944 Revolution

In 1944, a group of military dissident officials, students, and liberal professionals, called the “Revolutionaries of October ", overthrew the government of Federico Ponce Vaides, replacing it with a Junta that included Francisco Javier Arana, Captain Jacobo Arbenz and Mr. Jorge Torriello. Shortly thereafter, the Junta summoned free and democratic elections where the teacher and writer Dr. Juan José Arévalo Bermejo was elected. He was the first president elected in Guatemala after Jorge Ubico’s dictatorship known as tirania ubiquista. His socialism was inspired in part by the American New Deal, and was criticized by the aristocracy and landowners as being communist. In spite of his seemingly honest nature, his high level of corruption has been verified. Along with embezzling the public treasury, he was responsible for the murder of Francisco Javier Arana on the Bridge of La Gloria, in the municipality of Amatitlán.

Arévalo put forward many reforms and created numerous governmentally-funded institutions which he modeled after those of socialist countries. Nepotism and corruption were wide-spread within his administration, perpetuating the myth that this is the generalized modus operandi in the majority of Latin-American countries.

The reforms initiated by Arévalo were continued by his successor, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán. On having come to the power, Arbenz declared his intentions: “We will enter history, continuing the ideology of Marx and his system of dictatorship of the proletariat”.

Arbenz policy included an agrarian reform intended to expropriate unproductive land that would be given to the peasants for their usufruct. A direct attack against the United Fruit Company's interests, Arbenz agrarian reform intended to increase land productivity and to improve the general standard of living failed noticeably.

The United Fruit Company looked for the support of President Eisenhower arguing that Arbenz  had legalized the communist Guatemalan Labor Party, which was receiving funds from the Soviet Union. In 1952, Arbenz was declared a dangerous communist.

In response, the CIA (with close ties to the United Fruit Company), organized   “Operation PBSUCCESS”, which consisted of the training and financing of a rebellious paramilitary army (Movimiento de Liberacion) that then staged a coup d'état in 1954 thereby ending Árbenz's rule. He was later exiled to Czechoslovakia, Cuba, The U.S.S.R, and finally committed suicide in Mexico.