The first CIA-backed coup in Latin America
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 27 June 2024
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In June 1954, the first CIA-backed coup took place in Guatemala, when President Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown in a operation organised by the US government. The Administration of Dwight D Eisenhower feared his policies - which included a land reform - could threaten the interests of one of the most powerful firms in the US at the time – the United Fruit Company.
Arbenz was labelled a communist, and he was forced into a long exile that took him and his family to seek shelter across Europe and Latin America. Arbenz's son told Mike Lanchin in 2016 about the devastating impact the coup had on his family.
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(Photo: The Arbenz family in 1955. Credit: RDB via Getty)
Transcript
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| 0:29.0 | Newscast, listen on BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service. It's 70 years since the American Central |
| 0:45.7 | Intelligence Agency overthrew the democratically elected government of |
| 0:50.0 | Guatemala. In 2016, Mike Lanchen spoke to the son of President Harcubo Arbans, who the Americans |
| 0:57.8 | forced into exile. |
| 1:01.8 | Carrying anti-communist banners, jubilant soldiers celebrate victory following their two-week |
| 1:06.0 | revolt in Guatemala. Colonel Carlos Hamas, the rebel leader, is embraced by some of his supporters |
| 1:12.0 | who helped him overthrow the red regime in Guatemala. |
| 1:14.4 | It's the summer of 1954 and the victorious coup leaders are gathering in Guatemala City |
| 1:20.3 | after their successful overthrow of the country's leftist president. |
| 1:24.5 | A group of Guatemalan army officers, trained and financed by the CIA, are now in power. |
| 1:30.5 | Arriving from Guatemala City is Colonel El Fago Munson, head of the temporary Junta. |
| 1:35.0 | He has high hopes of becoming President of Guatemala, but so has Colonel Hamas. |
| 1:40.0 | Then when the few red outlaws who still menace the city have been quelled, free elections will again be held in Guatemala. |
| 1:47.0 | It's the end of 10 years of civilian rule in the Central American country, |
... |
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