This essay will study the Central Intelligence Agency’s intervention in Guatemala, and how they assisted Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas in the coup d’état against Jacobo Arbenz. It will describe the reasons of the intervention, the United States’ interest in Guatemala, and how it affected Guatemalans. Such events help explain much about the role that the United States has in their own migration. The paper argues that the United States’ political interest in Guatemala played a fundamental role in the migration of Guatemalans to its borders. As a result of this intervention, Guatemala suffered one of its worse political periods in their history. Guatemala experienced a period of political instability that led the country into social chaos, where many Guatemalans opted to migrate to the United States. During the second half of the twentieth century, when the Cold War was on its midst, the United States played an important role in world affairs. The increasing military power that the United States had during the Cold War, allowed it to influence the political decisions that many countries had during this time. The United States directly opposed the idea of communism, which the Soviet Union promoted. This conflict between this two great powers, lasted for five decades, and it tremendously affected the political ideologies of the world. Both countries tried to push their political and economic interest to as many nations as they could, especially those close to their borders. During this time, Guatemala was undergoing a social revolution with communist ideas. The revolution happened as a response to the social injustice committed by the United Fruit Company. The United Fruit Company started to lose land, due to a land reform passed b... ... middle of paper ... ...A's Classified Account of Its Operation In Guatemala, 1952-1954. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006. Froster, Cindy. The Time of Freedom Campesino Workers in Guatemala's October Revolution. Pittsburg: University of Pittsburg Press, 2001. Gleijeses Piero. Shattered Hope The Guatemalan Revolution and The United States, 1944-1954. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991. Gonzalez, Juan. Harvest of Empire a History of Latinos in America. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc, 2000. Immerman, Richard. The CIA in Guatemala the foreign policy of intervention. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985. Rabe Stephen. The Killing Zone The United States Wages Cold War in Latin America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Schneider, Ronald . Communism in Guatemala. New York: Octagon books, 1979. Year Book of 2008 immigration statistics, Department of Homeland Security, 2008.
Teja, Jesus F. De La. A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguin. Austin: State House Press, 1991.
The Latino community is a very varied community each with its own unique past and circumstances. In the book Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzalez the readers can learn and appreciate some of the experiences and history that the different Latino groups had. This book does this with a special emphasis on immigration trends. These points of emphasis of the book are explained thoroughly in the identification of the key points, the explanation of the intersection of race, ethnicity, and class, in addition to the overall evaluation of the book.
In the 1630’s Mayans living in the northern part of Guatemala organized in a secretive village-by-village basis and mounted an attack against the Spanish colonial rule. They drove the Colonizers out of the area and it took almost fifty years for the Spanish to reclaim it [i] . Over 350 years later the Mexican government woke up on January 1st 1994 to news of an indigenous guerilla uprising in the southern part of Mexico. Mayans had been secretly organizing, much in the same way as the 1630 revolt, and had formed the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN). This new Zapatista movement took its name from Emilio Zapata, a famous champion of indigenous rights. On January first, the day of NAFTA’s implementation, the EZLN rose up and captured the city of San Cristbal de las Casas and several villages in the surrounding area. In the span of eleven days they were able to take hold of more land than many other guerrilla movements, such as the FMLN in El Salvador, had done in years.
Guatemala’s culture is a unique product of Native American ways and a strong Spanish colonial heritage. About half of Guatemala’s population is mestizo (known in Guatemala as ladino), people of mixed European and indigenous ancestry. Ladino culture is dominant in urban areas, and is heavily influenced by European and North American trends. Unlike many Latin American countries, Guatemala still has a large indigenous population, the Maya, which has retained a distinct identity. Deeply rooted in the rural highlands of Guatemala, many indigenous people speak a Mayan language, follow traditional religious and village customs, and continue a rich tradition in textiles and other crafts. The two cultures have made Guatemala a complex society that is deeply divided between rich and poor. This division has produced much of the tension and violence that have marked Guatemala’s history (Guatemalan Culture and History).
Sigmund, Paul E. The United States and Democracy in Chile. Baltimore, MD: Twentieth Century Fund, 1993.
Crouch, Ned. Mexicans & Americans : Cracking The Cultural Code. NB Publishing, Inc., 2004. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 21 Nov. 2011.
Following technological advances, numerous individuals receive their news digitally. However, a recent trend in the media has portrayed immigration negatively. Now in media, including films, immigrants are viewed as people that “spread infectious diseases and terrorists that may gain entry to western nations disguised as refugees” (Esses, Medianu, and Lawson 518). As reported by Vargas and DePyssler, media exemplifies immigrants into two representations: group and individual. Group representation is more commonly found and shown with “a group of Mexican immigrants who appear as outsiders unable or unwilling to assimilate, as welfare cheats draining society, or as people who do not pay taxes wresting jobs from citizens who do” (Vargas and
Ngai, Mae M. 2004 “Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America” Publisher: Princeton University Press.
Anita Isaacs focuses on the consequences the new democracy faces after the rule of former President Molina, “The Congress stripped him [Molina] of immunity, thus diverting attention from its own corruption cloud; in last week’s elections, half its deputies were re-elected, and the same three incumbent parties obtained the bulk share of seats.” This lack in alternation of political parties may maintain a similar form of government but the new President Morales expresses reformational interest towards the corruption of the country. Guatemala does not have a strong enough justice system to properly restrain governmental power, but the state justly accused higher governmental officials of customs fraud resulting in the imprisonment of former President, Otto Pérez Molina, and Vice President, Roxana Baldetti. The removal of the top two rulers of the country from office uncovered Guatemala’s legitimate, democratic stability through one of the most important factors of a strong democracy, the rule of
Bruneau,C.,(2005, May).The Maras and national security in Central America. Strategic insights (5). Retrieved from http://www.nps.edu/academics/centers/publications/onlinejournal/2005/may/bruneaumay05.html
Foreign involvement was a very helping hand for the Guatemalan Peace Accords. The people in Guatemala wanted a peaceful way to get these agreements finished, so they allowed international involvement. Although Guatemala was attempting to create peace, they needed international aid to progress the accords. So, the key role players were foreign power. In Guatemala, they focused on local organizations and commissions. The handling of the nation should have involved the people just as much as international actors. Although they were in the peace talks, groups would get shadowed by the larger nations.
Schlesinger, Stephen C., and Stephen Kinzer. Bitter Fruit: the Story of the American Coup in Guatemala. [Boston, Mass.]: Harvard University, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, 1999. Print.
Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P. Guerrillas & Revolution in Latin America: A Comparative Study of Insurgents and Regimes Since 1956. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992.
However, this does not necessarily mean colonizing Latin America, but rather having it allied and influenced by the United States' mentality and agenda. The book describes the tactics used by the United States to align these countries' policies and politics with its own. The book effectively portrays the role of the United States in the political affairs of Latin American countries. Higgins examines the Eisenhower administration's invasion of Guatemala, which resulted in a revolt to remove the leftist President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán. The Arbenz administration posed a threat to the dominance of American companies in Guatemala, particularly the United Fruit Company.
Wright, Alan. "After Chavez – What Next for Nicaragua?" SosteNica. N.p., 6 Apr. 2013. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. .