In May 1978, a group of Kekchi indigenous people were massacred at a protest calling on the government to protect their land against expansion from cattle ranchers (who incidentally were providing beef to a largely American export market, an expansion funded by the Alliance for Progress and its successor funds,) showing that the government was now not simply against the guerrillas, but against the indigenous population too. LaFeber argues that the rightwards shift of the government occurred largely outside of American control. The government’s policy during the early 1980s, although brutal and arguably genocidal, heavily weakened the guerrillas. Intervention in Nicaragua, 1911/1912. Aid stopped in 1977, however congressional loopholes, as well as. Under his rule, the efficiency of the killings increased, the breaking of the indigenous connection with the land continued, and in a new strategy, Indians were forced to police themselves, report on any ‘subversives’ in the village, and to execute them (often their neighbours) when caught – for fear of being executed by the army themselves. In 1951, at the next election, Jacobo Arbenz was elected president, and oversaw a shift to the left. LaFeber argues that the rightwards shift of the government occurred largely outside of American control. The effective impunity that the separation from government gave the army meant that little thought was given to civilian casualties, nor to rampant corruption, and although democracy ostensibly existed, elections were not free, nor was the entire population enfranchised. Although the civil war would carry on until 1996, the ferocity was never the same after 1983. International pressure on Guatemala, heightened by media interest and growing pressure from international investors, the IMF and World Bank, led to peace talks overseen by the UN commencing in 1990. On the other hand, the destruction of La Epoca aroused no interest whatsoever and was not reported here, although it was well-known to US journalists. The US’s original goal in Guatemala, in 1954, was to contain the spread of communism. The tactics of the late sixties, which CIA military advisors drew from their experiences in Vietnam, involved dropping napalm on indigenous villages thought to contain guerrillas, then sending in ground troops to murder any survivors. The US’s goal was to contain the spread of communism in Latin America, and in this it technically succeeded. Mayans make up over half the population, yet … Furthermore, due to their immense influence, they were able to secure concessions meaning they paid low taxes and were free from regulation. A (non-orthodox) Marxist critique of technology under capitalism as inherently antagonistic towards the environment as well as labor. Mayans had a degree of social autonomy – living apart from Ladinos, however economic constraints meant that they often had to work on fincas. In short, American intervention brought back many problems that the ‘ten years of spring’ had gone at least some way to repairing. As mentioned above, José Figueres was the founder of Costa Rican democracy and a leading democratic figure in Central America. Much more can be said about the 1954 coup, however the purpose of this essay is to examine the effects: and these were extensive. This brought another dimension to the civil war, which by this point was at a low ebb thanks to the widespread scorched-earth tactics which had heavily weakened the guerrillas. This argument suggests that although the coup quelled the communist insurgency, it allowed men like Castro to learn from the experience, limiting the … So the CIA carried out a successful coup. United Fruit and its sister company, International Railways of Central America, effectively held monopolies on two of Guatemala’s most important economic assets (fruit and cross-border transport,) and the profit from these monopolies rarely passed through Guatemalan hands. Importantly, the Arevalo government did not discriminate against the indigenous population; for the first time by a Guatemalan government indigenous people were seen as part of the solution to the problem rather than an obstacle. But by 1952, the cold war was underway, the CIA had been established (and was in the process of planning its first regime change, in Iran,) and the US government had already experienced five years of lobbying from United Fruit, in reaction to the 1947 Labour Law. If you're not sure if something is appropriate for the library, please ask in the feedback and content forum. Things became still worse after a successful land reform began to threaten "stability" in neighbouring countries where suffering people did not fail to take notice. Under Reagan, support for near-genocide in Guatemala became positively ecstatic. The US continued to supply military aid during this period – to the tune of $35 million between 1967-76 – which funded the violent killings, in that same period, of 50,000 people. Our allies have been enlisted in the cause as well - notably Israel, which is regarded as a "strategic asset" in part because of its success in guiding state terrorism. It remains to be seen what further impact the U.S. will have on Venezuela, in terms of the political, social, and economic order. It was in this context that the largest earthquake in Guatemalan history struck in February 1976. It was not only oil which contributed to this. Árbenz resigned on June 27, and following … ▶ Use the site private messaging system The aim of this was to isolate the guerrillas and turn the peasantry against them, however it did not have the desired effects. The US continued to supply military aid during this period – to the tune of $35 million between 1967-76 – which funded the violent killings, in that same period, of 50,000 people. the indigenous, land-redistribution-supporting policies of Arevalo and Arbenz as a threat, which sparked the guerrilla resistance and the slide towards civil war. Rachel Blevins. And to which economy were the cattle, minerals and oil (all in their unrefined, and therefore cheap, forms) sold in their majority? These were not common characteristics of the past American interventions. 1954 marked the last democratically elected government Guatemala would see until 1996; it marked a shift from the politics of unity to the politics of division; it marked a shift from policy which benefited the Guatemalan people, to policy which benefited a small clique of army elites, as well as United States foreign policy and big business interests. Natural Movement - Fitness Fad or Revelation? Due to the small country’s mountainous geography, the divide between Maya (indigenous people) and Ladinos (Guatemalans of mixed European and Maya heritage) was starker than anywhere else in Central America. United Fruit and its sister company, International Railways of Central America, effectively held monopolies on two of Guatemala’s most important economic assets (fruit and cross-border transport,) and the profit from these monopolies rarely passed through Guatemalan hands. Noam Chomsky on the US intervention and coup following the 1944 revolution which overthrew Guatemala's brutal dictator. Decree 900, issued on June 27 1952, redistributed land to 500,000 landless peasants. In 1988, a newly opened Guatemalan newspaper called La Epoca was blown up by government terrorists. Mendez was widely regarded as a puppet, and his tenure was the only period during the civil war that Guatemala even pretended to be under civilian rule. Joint Chiefs of Staff associated insurgency with the expression of dissenting opinions or political organizing, illegal strikes or street protests, and major guerrilla attacks, short of civil war. However this apathy was apathy no longer after the earthquake. BBC News, ‘Timeline: Guatemala’, Country Profiles, , Dunkerley, James, Guatemala since 1930, in Bethell, Leslie, (ed), Central America since Independence, (Cambridge, 1991), Grandin, Greg, ‘A Clandestine Life’, in Grandin, Greg; Levenson, Deborah T.; & Oglesby, Elizabeth, (eds. 106, 120. A national spotlight now shines on the border between the United States and Mexico, where heartbreaking images of Central American children being separated from their parents and held in cages demonstrate the consequences of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance policy” on unauthorized entry into the country, announced in May 2018. As villagers were getting "humanitarian" help, they were questioned about the type of organizations they had, who their leaders were, and what type of people visited their community. Historian Piero Gleijeses has stated that if it were not for U.S. support for the rebellion, the officer corps of the Guatemalan army would have remained loyal to Árbenz because, although they were not uniformly his supporters, they were more wary of Castillo Armas, and also had strong nationalist views. In this thesis I will answer the following question: His policy, and that of Efrain Rios Montt’s government after him, was an even more brutal version of governments before – and can truly be described as genocide. From a human perspective, the effects of American intervention were the violent deaths of thousands of civilians. Eastern Europeans are "luckier than Central Americans," Godoy wrote, because while the Moscow-imposed government in Prague would degrade and humiliate reformers, the Washington-made government in Guatemala would kill them. Aid stopped in 1977, however congressional loopholes, as well as money sent secretly through the CIA, allowed certain assistance to continue. At the time, the media here were very much exercised over the fact that the US-funded journal in Nicaragua, La Prensa, which was openly calling for the overthrow of the government and supporting the US-run terrorist army, had been forced to miss a couple of issues due to a shortage of newsprint. Find an answer to your question What were the consequences of America’s Intervention with El Salvador? The article has been edited slightly by libcom – US to UK spellings and a few small details have been added for the reader new to the topic. Guerrillas, who began their struggle simply hoping for an escape from the neo-feudalist economic system, moved further to the left as they faced brutal government crackdowns and support from the communist regime in Cuba. Eisenhower and Dulles warned that the "self-defence and self-preservation" of the United States was at stake unless the virus was exterminated. The tactics of the late sixties, which CIA military advisors drew from their experiences in Vietnam, involved dropping napalm on indigenous villages thought to contain guerrillas, then sending in ground troops to murder any survivors. Importantly, the Arevalo government did not discriminate against the indigenous population; for the first time by a Guatemalan government indigenous people were seen as part of the solution to the problem rather than an obstacle. After the coup, left-wing Ladino army officers, remnants of the Arbenz and Arevalo regime, fled to the highlands and began a guerrilla insurgency. American pilots bombed Guatemala City; the Guatemalan Army refused to fight. Furthermore, the Guatemalan army’s use of indiscriminate torture, rape, executions and massacres were arguably among the worst human rights abuses of the cold war. It was these tactics which in many ways encouraged growth of the guerrilla movement, since the struggle morphed away from the simple politics of redistribution towards a nationalist struggle against a government seen as supporting foreign interests at the expense of the people. It is important to examine the tactics of military repression, because the methods used were instrumental in perpetuating the social divisions in Guatemala. In the years leading up to the First World War, the United States and Mexican governments competed for political influence in Central America. And it is for this reason that genocide can be counted as one of the direct results of American intervention: it led to a policy where the indigenous – either innocent or fighting for basic dignity – were subject to what was effectively extermination. In actual fact, the force numbered only 480 Guatemalan exiles. Fincas were essentially plantations, at which the Mayans effectively made up a low paid, seasonal workforce with effectively no workers’ rights, toiling in terrible conditions, long distances away from their homes, and sometimes at dangerously different altitudes. Mayans had a degree of social autonomy – living apart from Ladinos, however economic constraints meant that they often had to work on. In 1930, maya constituted 70% of the population. Additionally, Taiwan and Israel (two strong US allies and beneficiaries of its aid,) continued providing money and military parts until 1983, when Reagan resumed funding. And all under the auspices of maintaining ‘freedom’ in the world. Arevalo’s policy was fairly reasonable: only uncultivated land would be taken, and its owners would be paid face value in compensation – although ultimately that figure was lower than the real value of the land, since ‘face value’ was the self-declared value of the land on tax returns, which United Fruit undervalued in order to pay less tax. This division was by no means purely ethnic – it saturated most aspects of society: Guatemalan government was entirely Ladino; the Ladinos were rich, the Maya poor; they did not speak the same language, wear the same clothes, or believe in the same God or Gods. And all under the auspices of maintaining ‘freedom’ in the world. This goal was achieved, but at what price? This division was by no means purely ethnic – it saturated most aspects of society: Guatemalan government was entirely Ladino; the Ladinos were rich, the Maya poor; they did not speak the same language, wear the same clothes, or believe in the same God or Gods. 1961 saw the FAR (Rebel Armed Forces) established; 1962 the beginnings of attacks on army barracks; 1964 the start of the Guatemalan Air Force’s bombing campaign; and 1965 the first counterinsurgency advisors sent by the CIA. Then, on June 17, Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas and his band of several hundred peasant soldiers-the so-called Liberation Army-had invaded Guatemala from Honduras with logistical support from a covert U.S. The DeVine case In 1990, MIchael DeVine, an American businessman living in Guatemala, apparently stumbled upon the Guatemalan Army's drug-trafficking activities. This was another significant, and lasting, effect of American intervention. The United States has been involved in numerous foreign interventions throughout its history. And this repression was not anomalous: according to Amnesty International, over 7,000 civilian opponents of the security forces were ‘disappeared’ or found dead in 1970 and 1971, followed by an additional 8,000 in 1972 and 1973. A CIA memorandum of 1952 described the situation in Guatemala as "adverse to US interests" because of the "Communist influence...based on militant advocacy of social reforms and nationalistic policies." U.S. Military intervention has caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths and decades-long military dictatorships that have inflicted trauma on a mass scale. Mendez was widely regarded as a puppet, and his tenure was the only period during the civil war that Guatemala even pretended to be under civilian rule. Helping us maintain the site! Students will write a three-paragraph news briefing on the American involvement in the Guatemalan coup from the perspective of a Soviet state-run newspaper in July of 1954. Making Guatemala a killing field. As a result of this, Guatemala’s situation in 1944 can be described as ‘neo-feudal’: 2% of the population owned 72% of the land; and a small number of people – some American, the rest Ladinos – effectively controlled the economy. Click here to register now. A majority of Guatemalans resented the United Fruit Company, believing the corporation had prevented the country from gaining economic independence. It marked an end to land reform, the Guatemalan people’s only hope of overcoming their neo-feudalist submission to a system heavily stacked against them. , Ceausescu and Saddam Hussein, among others, all far worse criminals than.! Recognized and apologized for the first time with mixed results left alone, there were the violent of! 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