Jennifer’s Group

Professor Madden

English 450

16 May 2006

Guatemalan Civil War

The Guatemalan Civil War has lasted for almost four decades. Many factors and issues which caused the war and every party involved in this war had valid reasons to fight, whether it be for financial gain or just to save a life, ultimately everyone was affected by the war.

To begin, there was a company named United Fruit Company that held forty-two percent of land in Guatemala. "They were the big holders of the unused land that Arbenz made available for 90 percent of the population" (Landmeir 3). "Here is where the problem arose" (Landmeir 3). This company merged with another, Boston Fruit Company, to become "the largest banana company in the world" (Landmeir 1). While the United Frit Company was being carried under a broken wing, their felt that their land was being redistributed by Jacobo Arbenz (Guatemalan President) without their approval or adequate compensation. What brought down the wrath of this company was Arbenz attempt to distribute lands owned by United Fruit Company to landless peasants. There was 209,842 acres of land that was taken by the government which offered compensation of $627,527 in bonds (Griffith 4). Arbenz refused to pay any more compensation and continued to expropriate United Fruits lands.

Due to the redistribution of land without U.S. approval, led to President Eisenhower’s Cabinet getting involved. They were involved due to the fear of communism being to close to the U.S. borders. The need to protect the United Fruit Company, and the communism against the U.S. leaves Eisenhower’s Cabinet no choice but to declare war. The most important fear to the U.S. is loose all Central America to communism. "It<is> a breeding ground for communism!" (197). Eisenhower says "My god, just think what it <will> mean to us if Mexico went communist!" (197). There will be unguarded borders and Mexican communists south of the United States. The cabinet’s main danger is Jacobo Arbenz, the democratically elect President, who’s trying to carry out mild reform of the land. The land that Arbenz is trying to redistribute is claimed to be owned by the United Fruit Company. By redistributing the United Fruit Company’s land, this will affect the financial interest of the Dulles Brothers, Bobby Cutler, Henry Cabot Lodge, Sinclair Weeks and Ann Whitman. In order to protect the interests of the United Fruit Company, Eisenhower’s Cabinet does what it takes to overthrow Arbenz and tells the CIA to launch Operation Pbsuccess with the goal to overthrow Arbenz from office, and to replace him with someone the Americans approve of.

The plantation owners were the ones that enforced the "laws of the land". They were above the Maya on the food chain using their advancements in academics and wealth forced the illiterate Mayans into signing documents, written in Spanish, to turn over their land to the government. With their financial background, the plantation owners used their money to gain government military. The landowner’s economy was built off of the land the Mayas lived on so the government military secured the conditions of living as long as the economy benefited from the export of crops. The government allowed landowners to evict peasants and demolish their homes if they tried to sell their labors anywhere else. If the Mayas were given ownership of their land, it would infringe on the U.S. businesses, such as the United Fruit Company. Therefore, plantation owners felt that they had justification in needing the government and military to enforce harsh conditions to keep the Mayas from ruining the economy.

For a Ladino, or a non-indigenous Guatemalan, often of Spanish ancestry, the cause and blame of the war is placed on the Mayans of Guatemala. The Ladinos did not think that any land should belong to the weak, poor, and illiterate Mayas. The Ladinos thought that the Mayan tribes of Guatemala were inferior or primitive to the lighter skinned Europeans. If a person walks through Guatemala they can easily see the obvious differences between Ladino and the Mayans. Diane Nelson noted, "one racial difference between the Indians and non-Indians, which leans on tropes of blood purity and calls on "objective" phenotypic marks of difference like the carda de Indio (face of the Indian)" (Nelson). The Ladinos fought in the war to rid themselves and their country of the Mayans, much as Hitler sought out to destroy all the Jews in World War II. With the Mayas ignoring the Ladino’s orders to conform to their ways, the Ladino’s wanted to rid Guatemala from these non-conformists. Ladinos fought for racist reasons, and a lack of understanding. They believed they had a stronger claim to Guatemala then the Mayans, who incidentally have been on Guatemala longer then the Ladinos. When differences occur within a society, especially if these differences are physical such as skin differences, then racism is bound to occur, and in the cause of the Ladinos these differences are enough to fuel fire to fight a war.

Unfortunately, the Maya were at the bottom of the food chain when it came to the land and wealth of Guatemala. The Mayas main concern was to "preserving their own traditions" (Orlandi). This meant rebelling against Ladino’s that tried to change their way of life and didn’t respect their differences. The Mayas made up sixty percent of Guatemala and struggled with the government over use of their land (Orlandi). Due to the fact that the Maya would not conform to the Ladino’s language and ways of life, the plantation owners used this to their advantage. The Maya, illiterate and uneducated of the Spanish language, were forced to sign documents unbeknownst to them, to help plantation owners acquire the Mayas land. The Maya were then forced to work on these lands now owned by the landowners for no pay and unhealthful living. Children were dying everyday of malnutrition. The armies were backed by the CIA to begin genocide against the Maya (Orlandi). The Maya fought back by gathering in thousands and demand the military leave their villages and the Maya were fired upon (Orlandi). They watched as the military took away their children, raped their wives, and killed their husbands. These horrendous acts were repeated throughout 440 villages (Montejo). The Mayas were herded like cattle to the centermost part of their village and watched as the military ransacked their homes taking anything of value (Montejo). The Maya worked hard on their land to keep their culture alive only to watch the military try to destroy their lives.

In conclusion, almost forty years of peoples’ lives have been affected by the decisions of five individual groups. Eisenhower’s Cabinet, who looked over the interest of the United Fruit Companies investment, to the landowners in Guatemala to carry out the CIA’s orders, to the Ladinos who fought because they disagreed with another races way of life. The Mayas were unfortunately the ones whose lives were most lost due to believing in preserving their way of life. It is unfortunate that 200,000 people lost their lives to torture and gunshot.