Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
was the democratically-elected, reformist president of Guatemala. Overthrown in a CIA-led coup, he was replaced by a brutal dictatorship—one of the bloodiest in the region.]]Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán (September 14, 1913–January 27, 1971) was president of Guatemala from 1951 to 1954, when he was ousted in a coup d'etat backed by the United States and was replaced by a military dictator, Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas.
After being elected and taking office on March 15, 1951, Arbenz's government effected land reform in order to redistribute unused land. The United Fruit Company (UFC), a US-based corporation, was the country's largest landowner and left much of its land unutilized. According to international law, fair compensation must be given for nationalized foreign holdings. The company was paid $600,000 based on land values it had declared for tax purposes. The company did not find the amount sufficient.
In 1952 the Communist Guatemalan Labor Party was legalized; Communists subsequently gained considerable minority influence over important peasant organizations, labor unions, and the governing political party. To protect its interest in the country, the UFC and its banking supporters collaborated with the CIA to persuade the US administration that Arbenz was a Communist, or at best a socialist who was inviting a Communist takeover. The administration ordered the CIA to sponsor a coup d'état, code-named Operation PBSUCCESS, that toppled the government; Arbenz resigned on June 27, 1954 and was forced to flee. He initially sought exile in Cuba, lived for a time in Prague, and died in Mexico in 1971.
| Preceded by: Juan José Arévalo Bermejo |
Presidents of Guatemala | Succeeded by: Carlos Enrique Díaz de León |
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