See the other articles in this series:
- The atomic bombing of
- Operation
- Support for rebellions throughout the Cold War
- Shifting alliances in the
- Unflinching support of
- The War in
- American Exceptionalism and its two-faced foreign policy
Intervention in Latin America
The Cold War was a troubling time for the United States. Foreign policy was dictated by the philosophy of containment. First proposed by American diploment George Kennan, containment centered around the idea that if the Soviet Union inspired one nation to go Communist, then more would follow (similar to the American idea that a democracy in the Middle East will create more democracy). Kennan originally proposed a more passive policy of containment in his 1946 "Long Telegram," but National Security Council Report (NSC-68) escalated the strategy into one of "calculated and gradual coercion" to defend the Western hemisphere against the threat of Communism.
While containment seems like a solid strategy at first, it came with terrible consequences. In order to prevent any Communist influence in the Western hemisphere, the United States had to eliminate any uprising of Marxist thought regardless of the consequences. In several instances, this involved the overthrow (or attempted overthrow) of democratically-elected governments or populist rulers. In this article, we're going to look at Guatemala in 1954 and Cuba in 1961. Future posts which require deeper analysis and stand-alone articles are Chile in 1973 and Nicaragua in the 1980s.
Guatemala: Overthrowing Arbenz
In 1951, Guatemala went through its first ever peaceful transfer of power with the election of President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. A year into his presidency, Arbenz enacted an agrian reform policy that seized unused farmland from large plantations and gave ownership to private individuals in an attempt to build an agricultural economy (Arbenz himself gave up almost 2,000 acres of farmland to the project). While this was popular among the rural peasants, the upper class landowners reacted negatively and accused Arbenz of enacting a Communist policy.
The first record of United States interference in the issue came when the government seized hundreds of thousands of uncultivated land from the United Fruit Company, an American based company that had a strong political lobby in Washington. Arbenz offered the UFC roughly $600,000 for the land, but the company valued it at almost $16 million. In 1953, the United States demanded that the Guatemalan government pay the full value, but the demand went unanswered. In retribution, the U.S. decreased trade with and foreign aid to Guatemala, which was economically disastrous to the Latin nation.
The agrarian reclamations were causing unrest in the Guatemalan populace, which the CIA decided to capitalize on. A year earlier, thanks to the guidance of Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Garcia during a state visit to President Truman, the CIA had located Carlos Castillo Armas, a Guatemalan exile who had a group of rebels who could potentially overthrow Arbenz. Operation PBFORTUNE was a CIA operation designed to supply arms and money to Armas, with collaboration from Nicaragua and Honduras, in order for the rebels to topple the current government. The operation was uncovered in October 1952, however, and had to be cancelled.
With the new issue with UFC's land and the recent success of the U.S.-backed coup d'etat in Iran, the Eisenhower was willing to take another shot at regime change, called Operation PBSUCCESS. In December 1953, the CIA began training pilots and rebels and established a propaganda radio station. On June 18th, the Armas-led army of rebels crossed the border into Guatemala.
The story of how the rebels successfully took over the nation is almost too bizarre to believe. The rebels started out strong, but were soon in a losing position. Arbenz ordered his army to allow Armas's army to advance further into Guatemalan territory. He was afraid that a complete annihilation of the rebel army would cause the United States to respond militarily. Because of this fear, which was greatly aided by CIA propaganda claiming that U.S. troops were about to enter the country, the Guatemalan army began surrendering to the rebel forces, and Arbenz resigned the presidency on June 27.
After eleven days of chaos, Armas took over the presidency. He would later demonstrate a severe incompetence and corruption and was eventually assassinated in 1957 after suspending elections and establishing a new constitution.
Cuba: The Bay of Pigs
The story of John F. Kennedy's failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro's regime is well-known as one of the most embarrassing moments in foreign policy history. The details of the plan were similar to those of Guatemala -- the CIA spent a signifcant amount of time prior to the invasion training exiled rebels who would serve as proxy soldiers for the United States. The goal of the mission was to topple the newly-established Communist regime and to replace it with a pro-U.S. government.
On midnight on 17 April, 1961, 1300 Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba, led by CIA officers. From the first moments of battle, the operation was a fiasco for the Untied States forces. Landing ships suffered mechanical failures and the expected domestic support (from anti-Communist locals) was nonexistant. Over the next three days, the Cuban army pummeled the rebels and forced a retreat to the beach. An estimated 2,000 Cubans died during the fighting, as well as 104 rebels. The 1200 rebels who survived were captured by the Cuban government. They were tried and condemned to thirty years in prison -- several were executed.
Over the next twenty months, the U.S. government struggled to secure their release. In December of 1962, the United States paid for their release with $53 million in medical and food supplies. A few months after the failed invasion, the famous Communist revolutionary Che Guevara allegedly sent a thank-you note to President Kennedy, saying that the Bay of Pigs fiasco made the Communist revolution "stronger than ever."
For more information
Decision for Disaster: Betrayal at the Bay of Pigs,
by Grayston L. Lynch
Bay of Pigs Declassified: The Secret CIA Report on the Invasion of Cuba (National Security Archive Documents Reader),by Grayston L. Lynch
by Peter KornbluhSecret History: The CIA's Classified Account of Its Operations in Guatemala, 1952-1954,
by Nick Cullather
