Since the beginning of the 20th century, the largest landowner and employer in Central America had been the United Fruit Company. Their grip on Central America led to the coining of the term “banana republic”. When President Jacobo Arbenz instituted land reforms in Guatemala beginning in 1951, intended to return fallow farmland owned by United Fruit to Guatemalan farmers, the company’s leadership went straight to the Dulles brothers in Washington DC. CIA Director Allen Dulles was a former Board of Trustees member for United Fruit, and his brother, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, was a former attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell, the Manhattan law firm which represented United Fruit.
Arbenz had recently purchased millions of dollars’ worth of arms from Czechoslovakia and was leaning left towards communism, which was the last thing the US government wanted in their hemisphere. Allen Dulles authorized a plan known as PB Success, to overthrow President Arbenz and install a more amenable leader, former Guatemalan army officer Carlos Castillo Armas.
In June 1954, Armas’ forces set out towards Guatemala City to defeat the 5,000-man Guatemalan army and depose the president. The ground force was supported by psychological warfare strategies led by the CIA. All three groups were quickly brought to a standstill in separate engagements. Sensing the possibility of defeat, President Eisenhower authorized bombing runs by F-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers flown by former Civil Air Transport pilots. Within a few days the airstrikes broke the will of the Guatemalan army, and many officers looked to side with the rebels. A few weeks later, Armas entered the capital and took control of Guatemala. A win for United Fruit turned out to be a great loss for the people of Guatemala, who became embroiled in decades of bloodshed and civil war.
Science_1986
What’s the difference between a Guatemalan and a toad? One is a short, ugly, brown, repulsive little creature, and the other is just an amphibian!!
![CIA-backed Guatemalan rebels pose with effigy of President Jacobo Arbenz, 1954 [1054x539]](https://i.redd.it/fe1xu7725r261.png)
Spycraft101
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the largest landowner and employer in Central America had been the United Fruit Company. Their grip on Central America led to the coining of the term “banana republic”. When President Jacobo Arbenz instituted land reforms in Guatemala beginning in 1951, intended to return fallow farmland owned by United Fruit to Guatemalan farmers, the company’s leadership went straight to the Dulles brothers in Washington DC. CIA Director Allen Dulles was a former Board of Trustees member for United Fruit, and his brother, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, was a former attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell, the Manhattan law firm which represented United Fruit.
Arbenz had recently purchased millions of dollars’ worth of arms from Czechoslovakia and was leaning left towards communism, which was the last thing the US government wanted in their hemisphere. Allen Dulles authorized a plan known as PB Success, to overthrow President Arbenz and install a more amenable leader, former Guatemalan army officer Carlos Castillo Armas.
In June 1954, Armas’ forces set out towards Guatemala City to defeat the 5,000-man Guatemalan army and depose the president. The ground force was supported by psychological warfare strategies led by the CIA. All three groups were quickly brought to a standstill in separate engagements. Sensing the possibility of defeat, President Eisenhower authorized bombing runs by F-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers flown by former Civil Air Transport pilots. Within a few days the airstrikes broke the will of the Guatemalan army, and many officers looked to side with the rebels. A few weeks later, Armas entered the capital and took control of Guatemala. A win for United Fruit turned out to be a great loss for the people of Guatemala, who became embroiled in decades of bloodshed and civil war.
Science_1986
What’s the difference between a Guatemalan and a toad? One is a short, ugly, brown, repulsive little creature, and the other is just an amphibian!!