The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a history of interference in the government of Guatemala over the course of several decades. Guatemala is bordered by the North Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Honduras (also known as the Caribbean Sea). The four bordering countries are Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Belize. Due to the proximity of Guatemala to the United States, the fear of the Soviet Union creating a beachhead in Guatemala created panic in the United States government during the Cold War. In an interview, Howard Hunt, CIA Chief, Mexico, stated that "We were faced here with the obvious intervention of a foreign power, because these home grown parties, are not really home grown, they are being funded...or advised by a foreign power, i.e. the Soviet Union." The CIA undertook Operation PBSuccess to overthrow the democratically elected Jacobo Árbenz in the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état. Carlos Castillo Armas replaced him as a military dictator. Guatemala was subsequently ruled by a series of military dictatorships for decades.
Between 1962 and 1996, Left-wing guerrillas fought the U.S. backed military governments during the Guatemalan Civil War.
According to the George Washington University's "The National Security Archive," there are still over 100,000 pages of documents on CIA activities in Guatemala that have not been released. The multitude of documents showed a consistent line of communication between Guatemala station and CIA headquarters building to a possible coup attempt against Arbenz.
The Rise of Communism in Guatemala Communist influence within Guatemala was a slow rise utilizing labor and politics, propaganda and fear. After the 1944 Guatemalan Revolution and the overthrow of dictator Jorge Ubico by leftist-nationalists, small communist groups began to emerge and become public. Largely disregarded and detested, communism took on new life during the mid 1940s and challenged the political and labor scene. Beginning with the induction of the Confederacion de Trabajadores de Guatemala (CTG) in 1945, the communist influence took hold within the labor federations. Needing experienced and established advisors the nation looked internationally to employ leaders who would guide Guatemalan labor movements; opening the door for communist consultants and eventually using the CTG as a communist indoctrination center. Exploiting laws and finding weaknesses within Guatemalan politics, communism could be found in most areas of the government and thus, establishing a pro-communist foundation in Congress, legislators, and the Supreme Court.
Beyond politics, propaganda became essential for communism to spread into Guatemala as it was a new and unknown political scope. Radio stations, newscasts, and public commentaries all served as vehicles for delivering communist ideas. Encouraging the overthrow of "colonial imperialism," radio broadcasts such as The Belize Hour operated on an uncensored basis and promoted free speech. Communist influence found its way into cartoons and posters, using themes of Congressional infiltration and the solidarity Guatemalan people had for North Korea after the Korean war during the 1950s. The sphere of communism became officially recognized when a signed press statement from the "Secretary General of the Partido, Comunista de Guatemala," Jose Manuel Fortuny admitted to the existence of a communist regime in Guatemala, in place since 1947.
The Possible Soviet Intervention The rise of communism in Guatemala was not connected to U.S.S.R. due to statements from Nikolai Leonov the former KGB intelligence officer in charge of Central American intelligence as well as push back by the Soviet union and Guatemalan ambassadors in the UN in reaction to U.S. accusations of Soviet Intervention within The Guatemalan government.
The only meaningful support from the Soviet Union was a shipment of old Nazi weaponry that had been captured by Czech Resistance. This shipment of weaponry was one of the first shipments weapons to Central American nation This shipment of weaponry by the Soviet Union became a mark of Soviet meddling within Central America and was seen as a threat by The CIA and American officials. The thought of possible Soviet influence at this time was inconceivable due to the sudden instability of the Soviet Union By the death of Joseph Stalin on March 5, 1953.
The Soviet Union also walked carefully around the conservative nature Arbenz's administration. The Soviet Union did not intervene or give aid to Arbenz's Government during the mission of PCSuccess even during the pleading of Guatemalan ambassadors to the Soviet Union.
Revelations secured through Freedom of Information Requests On May 23, 1997, CIA released 1,400 pages of the 100,000 secret archives on the CIA's involvement in the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état in response to numerous FOIA requests from the National Security Archive, a non-for-profit research organization and archive located on the campus of George Washington University. The release of these classified documents came a full five years after the announcement by the CIA director, Robert Gates, that the CIA would declassify and release information on its post Cold War history. Coincidentally, the CIA released the documents "only days after a member of the CIA's own historical review panel was quoted in The New York Times as calling the CIA's commitment to openness 'a brilliant public relations snow job.'" The released documents cover the CIA's thought on the intentions of Guatemalan president Jacobo Árbenz. He was elected in 1950, "to continue a process of socio-economic reforms... [are disdainfully referred to by the CIA] in its memoranda as 'an intensely nationalistic program of progress colored by the touchy, anti-foreign inferiority complex of the 'Banana Republic'".
Along with the release of classified CIA documents and information regarding the operations PBFORTUNE and PBSUCCESS, was information about the perceived threat within Guatemala. CIA classified information collected in 1952 displayed the details of the activities within Guatemala. After noting that the information had not been officially evaluated, the document highlighted the Communist Party in Guatemala, noting that there were perceived to be "roughly 500 men scattered throughout Guatemala, headed by a commander, whose name is closely guarded."
While in office Arbenz created an active alliance with the Communist. The policies in which Arbenz was implementing in Guatemala, were damaging to the relationship with the United States. The United States realized that a hostile government in Guatemala was taking form. Although it did not seem like a direct to US security, an intervention needed to be devised to keep the Soviets out of the Western Hemisphere. This supposed attack on the US and the Communist Party was not widely known or accepted. It was a theory that if the Communist party was growing in Guatemala, it would be a greater threat to the US, due to the close geographical location. In a documentary entitled "Arbenz and the CIA, (Guatemala, 1950s)," a KGB Officer, Nikolai Leonov, explained that the Guatemalan Communist threat was not rooted in reality. That is, Leonov claimed that the Arbenz political party did not utilize "any logistical support from the Soviet Union." He further explained that the two did not have diplomatic relations and dispelled the notion that the Soviets were infiltrating Guatemala.
According to staff historian Gerald Haines' 1995 report, concern was growing over Jacobo Arbenz's left-leaning policies and his shift towards communism. The United States government was fearful that the political movements of the Arbenz administration and the allowing of the communist party within Guatemala would create an easy access for the Soviet Union to infiltrate the US.
The Guatemalan Revolution of 1944-54 had overthrown the US-backed dictator Jorge Ubico, and brought a popular leftist government to power. Although most high-level US officials recognized that a hostile government in Guatemala by itself did not constitute a direct security threat to the United States, they claimed to view events there in the context of the growing Cold War struggle with the Soviet Union and feared Guatemala could reduce the influence of US corporations (such as United Fruit) in the region, and thus reduce US influence. Decree 900, passed on 7 August 1952, among other things, sought to increase Guatemala's autonomy and create a successful example of land reform in Central America. The decree aimed to redistribute land from large estates, including those owned by the United Fruit Company, to landless peasants. This move threatened the economic interests of powerful landowners and corporations, prompting opposition from both domestic and international quarters.
Members of the CIA had further interest in Guatemala and further incentive to assist United Fruit. The current U.S. Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, was also a member of the law firm Sullivan and Cromwell, which represented United Fruit. Director Allen Dulles was a board member of United Fruit, and the brother of the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, John Moors Cabot, had once been president of United Fruit. Ed Whitman, who was United Fruit's principal lobbyist, was married to President Eisenhower's personal secretary, Ann C. Whitman. These are simply a few of the individuals who influenced U.S. foreign policy towards Guatemala that had ties to the United Fruit Company. Dulles received direct communications from contacts in Guatemala. This FOIA revelation is interesting because it shows the operational strategy of Dulles. When direct communications from another country aren't delegated for someone else to read, the shows that the Director of the CIA had a more direct (pun intended) role in operational planning. A paper trail leading to the director also prevented deniability from the CIA if the operation was not successful.
The head of the CIA, Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) Walter Bedell Smith called for Immediate action. They were of the view that without foreign support and assistance from US, "the Guatemalan opposition would remain inept", disorganized and inefficient. The anti-communist elements—the Catholic hierarchy, landowners, business interests, the railway workers union, university students and the army were prepared to prevent communism, but apart from the US they had little outside support. In contrast to Smith, and as stated in the document "CIA and Guatemala Assassination Proposals 1952-1954", "other US officials, especially in the US Department of State, urged a more cautious approach. The Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, for example, did not want to present 'the spectacle of the elephant shaking with alarm before the mouse'". The Bureau of Inter-American Affairs advocated for a policy that focused on "firm persuasion with the withholding of virtually all cooperative assistance, and the concluding of military defense assistance pacts, with El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Ultimately, the Truman administration adopted the Department of State position [as]… the official public US policy"; however, "the CIA assessment…had support within the Truman administration as well".