Arevalo In Guatemala

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Guatemala, in 1944 to 1954, had a 10 year non-violent revolution, which was led by presidents Juan Jose Arevalo and Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, in order to help Guatemala’s struggles. This 10 year revolution was abruptly interrupted by the U.S. that feared its relations with Guatemala were being threatened. Arevalo and Arbenz’s reforms to Guatemala’s social issues during the revolution would have been successful if it were not for U.S. intervention in Guatemala. During Guatemala’s struggles, when Arevalo was put into office, he created reforms he believed were necessary for Guatemala’s success but many military coup attempts brought his resignation. Before Arevalo is put into office, Jorge Ubico is overthrown. He is overthrown on June 23, 1944 because…show more content…
When Ubico also suspended freedom of speech and the press, unrest developed” (Jorge Ubico President). Ubico created an alliance with the United States that will hurt Guatemala later on. After Ubico is overthrown Arevalo is elected into office on December 1944. Arevalo also created, “ A new constitution that went into effect on March 13, 1945. The new policy is what he called "spiritual socialism," an ill-defined doctrine of psychological and moral liberation.”(Juan Jose Arevalo Facts). This new policy included a social security law, a labor code, and not also giving the right to vote but also “the fundamental right of living in peace with his own conscience, with his family, with his goods, with his destiny." (Juan Jose Arevalo Facts). Arevalo also “Made some effort to improve campesino peasants' civil rights” (Juan Jose Arevalo Facts). Because of these…show more content…
in intervening and becoming the factor on why Guatemala’s revolution is unsuccessful. On March 1951 after Arevalo had resigned, Arbenz Guzman is elected into office. Arbenz Guzman’s agrarian reforms “led to a clash with the largest landowner in Guatemala, the U.S., whose idle lands he tried to expropriate” (Jacobo Arbenz President). As Arbenz’s reforms progressed, the U.S. government, are aroused, fearing that the reforms are a threat to American investments in Guatemala. Another reason why the U.S. became more alarmed is because of “the increasingly close relations between Guatemala and the communist bloc of nations” (Jacobo Arbenz President). This resulted in a step of U.S.’s plan to fabricate the Guatemalan Revolution a failure, Arbenz still pursued his objectives for the revolution though. There is one bill that really tipped off the relationship between U.S. and Guatemala and that is Arbenz’s “most controversial measure [the] Decree 900, an agrarian reform bill enacted in June 1952. It stipulated that the government would expropriate and redistribute uncultivated acreage from Guatemala's largest landholders” (Jacobo Arbenz Guzman Facts). This included the U.S.’s largest investment in Guatemala. The result of the Decree 900 is the CIA organizing a counter revolutionary military coup and the leader assigned is Col. Carlos Castillo. The U.S.

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