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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2022
This article analyzes the political afterlife of the Guatemalan Revolution of 1944-54 by relating the story of exiled political elites and their efforts to retake power in the decade following the CIA-sponsored coup of 1954. Through a thorough examination of the personal papers of Juan José Arévalo, the article argues that the demise of Guatemala's democratic left was not inevitable after 1954, but rather that the counterrevolutionary period (1954–63) was full of historical contingencies and possibilities. Factional tensions were rife among the exiled leftists, rooted especially in a debate over the culpability of Jacobo Arbenz and other radicals in the demise of the government, as well as disagreement over the proper relationship between the broader revolutionary movement and the communist Partido Guatemalteco del Trabajo (PGT). This factionalism, as well as a failure to fully grasp from exile the extent to which Guatemala's political landscape had changed, ultimately rendered the movement unsuccessful in its bid to retake power. In 1963, a presidential campaign to restore Arévalo to power was ended by a military coup. The coup was a significant turning point in Guatemalan political history, after which there were few opportunities for the democratic left.
I would like to thank Rebecca Herman, Margaret Chowning, Clare Ibarra, and the two anonymous reviewers chosen by The Americas for their thoughtful comments on earlier drafts of this article. A shorter paper on the same topic was presented at the 2019 meeting of the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies, where it received helpful feedback from commentator Claudia Rueda and fellow panelists Brian D'Haeseleer and Griselda Jarquín Wille, as well as the audience members.
1. The number of refugees who left the country following the coup is not clear. Recently published works cite the scholar and human rights activist Michael McClintock's estimate of roughly 10,000 refugees following the coup. Kirsten Weld, Paper Cadavers: The Archives of Dictatorship in Guatemala, 2014, 96, 272 n24; Weld, Kirsten, “The Other Door: Spain and the Guatemalan Counter-Revolution, 1944–54,” Journal of Latin American Studies 51:2 (2019): 25 n96Google Scholar. McClintock cites a book-length NACLA report co-edited by leading Guatemala scholar Susanne Jonas, but that number appears nowhere in the book, nor in Jonas's dissertation completed the same year. McClintock, Michael, The American Connection. Volume II: State Terror and Popular Resistance in Guatemala (London: ZED Books, 1985), 29, 43 n86Google Scholar; Jonas, Susanne and Tobis, David, eds., Guatemala (Berkeley: North American Congress on Latin America [hereinafter NACLA], 1974), 75Google Scholar; Susanne Jonas, “Test Case for the Hemisphere: United States Strategy in Guatemala, 1950–1974” (PhD diss.: University of California, Berkeley, 1974). Other sources indicate the number may have been closer to 1,000. In 1957, the American embassy presented the Guatemalan government with 497 exiles who they urged not be allowed back into the country (presumably this was not an exhaustive list of all the exiles). Carlos Urrutia Aparicio, a conservative present in Guatemala at the time of the coup who worked for the OAS and the Ydígoras Fuentes Administration, counted only 767 people receiving asylum from Latin American embassies in Guatemala City in 1954, based on a careful reading of Guatemalan press reports in the summer of 1954. This number likely includes some who were not themselves Guatemalan nationals, and excludes exiles that went unreported in the press (including those who fled across the border, rather than formally applying for asylum in the capital), as well as those driven into exile at some later point during the counterrevolutionary period (1954–63). Given that the embassy limited its list to fairly prominent exiles who were deemed a threat to US interests, and that Urrutia counted only elites seeking asylum in the capital, I am comfortable estimating at least 1,000, and do not rule out the possibility that the figure may well be closer to the 10,000 cited by McClintock and Weld. See William B. Connett Jr. to US Department of State, “List of Guatemalans in Exile [Includes Attachments],” Guatemala City, November 13, 1957, Digital National Security Archive [hereafter DNSA], Accession no. GU00023; and Carlos Urrutia Aparicio, “Diplomatic Asylum in Latin America” (PhD diss.: American University, 1960).
2. Cullather, Nick, Secret History: The CIA's Classified Account of Its Operations in Guatemala, 1952–1954 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999)Google Scholar; Gleijeses, Piero, Shattered Hope: The Guatemalan Revolution and the United States, 1944–1954 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991)Google Scholar; Immerman, Richard H., The CIA in Guatemala: The Foreign Policy of Intervention (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982)Google Scholar; Schlesinger, Stephen C. and Kinzer, Stephen, Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005 [1982])Google Scholar.
3. Moulton, Aaron Coy, “Militant Roots: The Anti-Fascist Left in the Caribbean Basin, 1945–1954,” Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe 28:2 (December 29, 2017): 14–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ameringer, Charles D., The Democratic Left in Exile: The Antidictatorial Struggle in the Caribbean, 1945–1959 (Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press, 1974)Google Scholar; Iber, Patrick, Neither Peace nor Freedom: The Cultural Cold War in Latin America, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015)Google Scholar; Iber, Patrick, “‘Who Will Impose Democracy?’: Sacha Volman and the Contradictions of CIA Support for the Anticommunist Left in Latin America,” Diplomatic History 37:5 (2013): 995–1028CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
4. Cindy Forster, The Time of Freedom: Campesino Workers in Guatemala's October Revolution (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001); Gleijeses, Shattered Hope; Greg Grandin, The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War (Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press, 2011). Gleijeses and Forster are quite critical of Arévalo. Grandin is more sympathetic but likewise credits the accomplishments of the revolutionary government mainly to social movements and pressure from below.
5. Vicente Sáenz, July 26, 1954, July folder, box 37, Juan José Arévalo Personal Papers [hereafter JJA Papers], Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamérica [hereafter CIRMA]. Ángel Mariano Hurtado de Mendoza and M. Roberto Hurtado de Mendoza, undated, August folder; F. Guillermo Palmieri and Jorge A. Palmieri, October 5, 1955, October folder, box 38.
6. Eliseo Martínez Zelada, July 19, 1954, JJA Papers, CIRMA, July folder, box 37; José R. Castro, September 1, 1954, September folder.
7. Juan José Arévalo, Guatemala, la democracia y el imperio (Mexico City: Editorial América Nueva, 1954); Alfonso Bauer Paiz, Cómo opera el capital yanqui en Centroamérica (el caso de Guatemala) (Mexico City: Editora Ibero-Mexicana, 1956); Guillermo Toriello Garrido, La batalla de Guatemala (Mexico City: Cuadernos Americanos, 1955); Raúl Osegueda, Operación Centroamérica OK (Mexico City: Editora Ibero-Mexicana, 1957).
8. Scholars have thoroughly documented that from 1945 to 1954 political parties split frequently, reflecting a factional messiness in the Guatemalan Revolution. Gleijeses, Shattered Hope, 39–40, 172–182; Jim Handy, Revolution in the Countryside: Rural Conflict and Agrarian Reform in Guatemala, 1944–1954, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994), 30–32.
9. Gleijeses, Shattered Revolution, 345–351; Cullather, Secret History, 101–103; Susanne Jonas, The Battle for Guatemala: Rebels, Death Squads, and U.S. Power (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991), 30.
10. Juan José Meza, July 27, 1954, JJA Papers, CIRMA, July folder, box 37.
11. Unknown author, September 17, 1954, JJA Papers, CIRMA, September folder, box 37.
12. Gordón Ordaz September 22, 1954, JJA Papers, CIRMA, September folder, box 37; unknown author in Montevideo, October 15, 1954, October folder; Tomás Sierra Roldán June 29, 1955, June folder, box 38; Alberto Ordóñez Argüello September 29, 1955, September folder; Juan José Arévalo to the Palmieri brothers November 5, 1955, November folder; Juan José Meza July 27, 1954, July folder, box 37; unknown author in Mexico City, September 17, 1954, September folder; Vicente Sáenz, December 31, 1954, December folder; Eliseo Martínez Zelada, January 25, 1955, January folder, box 38; Paco (full name unknown), April 18, 1955, April folder; Manuel T. (full name unknown), September 6, 1955, September folder; Vicente Sáenz, November 23, 1954, November folder, box 37.
13. The coup attempts died down substantially in the Arbenz years, compared to Arévalo's time in office. Grandin, Last Colonial Massacre, 76.
14. Eliseo Martínez Zelada, January 27, 1955, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January folder, box 38. He specifically implicated the communist union leader Leonardo Castillo Flores and Augusto Charnaud, discussed below.
15. Gonzalo Enrique Sandoval, December 8, 1954, JJA Papers, CIRMA, December folder, box 37.
16. Piero Gleijeses lists Charnaud among the major presidential aspirants in Shattered Hope, 206.
17. After José Manuel Fortuny split from PAR and formed the PGT, Charnaud in turn led a split and founded the Socialist Party when he found himself to the left of the Arevalistas in the PAR, after helping push out Fortuny. Gleijeses, Shattered Hope, 80–81; Handy, Revolution in the Countryside, 31–32.
18. Efforts to build an anticommunist labor movement existed alongside the almost immediate return of exiled communist organizers. Organizations designed as a bastion against radical trade unionism were rapidly infiltrated and transformed by radical left-wing organizers. Deborah Levenson-Estrada, Trade Unionists against Terror: Guatemala City, 1954–1985 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994), 29–48.
19. Augusto Charnaud, November 21, 1955, JJA Papers, CIRMA, December folder, box 38.
20. On the importance of the PGT to the land reform efforts, see Handy, Revolution in the Countryside, 85–89; Gleijeses, Shattered Hope, 142–147, 152; and Grandin, Last Colonial Massacre, 51–59
21. Augusto Charnaud, April 19, 1955, JJA Papers, CIRMA, April folder, box 38; July 1, 1955, June folder; June 9, 1955, June folder; July 22, 1955, July folder; October 23, 1955, October folder; November 21, 1955, December folder,.
22. In response to Arévalo's argument that as an internationalist movement, communists were not adequately loyal to Guatemala, Charnaud argued that anticommunist excesses undermined liberal values. Augusto Charnaud, July 22, 1955, JJA Papers, CIRMA, July folder, box 38.
23. For example, Arévalo expressed strong displeasure at the new political party Charnaud organized in exile, particularly the orientation toward class conflict in its manifesto, which Arévalo had argued against. Juan José Arévalo, June 3, 1955, JJA Papers, CIRMA, June folder, box 38.
24. Charnaud proposed this in a letter dated September 29, 1957, JJA Papers, CIRMA, October folder, box 39.
25. Eliseo Martínez Zelada, January 27, 1955, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January folder, box 38; Humberto González Juárez, May 15, 1955, May folder;, Humberto González Juárez, July 25, 1955, July folder; Alberto Ordóñez Argüello, January 19, 1956, January 1956 folder, box 39; Palmieri Brothers, February 17, 1956, February 1956 folder; Palmieri brothers, May 31, 1956, May 1956 folder; Roberto Alvarado Fuentes, July 17, 1958, July 1958 folder, box 41. The letter from Alvarado Fuentes, a former legislator exiled in Santiago, captures the peculiarities of Arevalista ideology: he condemned the centrist Partido Revolucionario as “macartista,” but blamed the radicals like Charnaud for provoking the 1954 coup, even as he supported Salvador Allende's 1958 presidential campaign in Chile.
26. Augusto Charnaud, July 22, 1955, JJA Papers, CIRMA, July folder, box 38.
27. Juan José Arévalo to Max (full name unclear), December 26, 1955, JJA Papers, CIRMA, December folder, box 38.
28. Juan José Arévalo to Humberto González Juárez, June 3, 1955, JJA Papers, CIRMA, June folder, box 38.
29. Arévalo's approach to communism was similar to Juan Bosch's as described here: Patrick Iber, “‘Who Will Impose Democracy?’”
30. Juan José Arévalo, Guatemala, la democracia y el imperio; Juan José Arévalo, Fábula del tiburón y las sardinas: América Latina estrangulada (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Meridión, 1956); Juan José Arévalo, Antikomunismo en América Latina: radiografía del proceso hacia una nueva colonización (Buenos Aires: Palestra, 1959).
31. On the Caribbean Legion, see Gleijeses, Shattered Hope; Aaron Coy Moulton, “Building Their Own Cold War in Their Own Backyard: The Transnational, International Conflicts in the Greater Caribbean Basin, 1944–1954,” Cold War History 15:2 (April 3, 2015): 135–154; Aaron Coy Moulton, “Militant Roots: The Anti-Fascist Left;” and Ameringer, The Democratic Left in Exile.
32. Jennifer Schirmer and Susanne Jonas, for instance, treat Ydígoras as one military dictator among many in the decades following the 1954 coup. Jennifer Schirmer, The Guatemalan Military Project: A Violence Called Democracy, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998), 15–17; Jonas, The Battle for Guatemala, 59–60. Heather Vrana better captures the contingencies of the counterrevolutionary period. Heather Vrana, This City Belongs to You: A History of Student Activism in Guatemala, 1944–1996, (Oakland: University of California Press, 2017), 23, 96–97.
33. For letters reflecting hope for a return to democracy and repatriation of the exiles, see Guillermo Lorentzen, July 27, 1957, JJA Papers, CIRMA, July folder, box 39; Guillermo Lorentzen, September 10, 1957, September folder; Manuel Seoane, August 27, 1957, August folder; Vicente Sáenz, August 28, 1957, August folder; Vicente Sáenz, October 16, 1957, October folder; and Raúl Osegueda, August 27, 1957, August folder.
34. Jacobo Arbenz, August 8, 1957, JJA Papers, CIRMA, August folder, box 39. On Arbenz's post-presidency, see Roberto García Ferreira, La CIA y los medios en Uruguay: el caso Arbenz (Montevideo: Amuleto, 2007).
35. Vrana, This City Belongs to You, 73–74; Francisco Villagrán Kramer, Biografía política de Guatemala: los pactos políticos de 1944 a 1970 (Guatemala: FLACSO Guatemala: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1993), 252–290.
36. The Partido Revolucionario's early stances are outlined favorably in a letter written by Charnaud. Augusto Charnaud, December 15, 1955, JJA Papers, CIRMA, December folder, box 38.
37. On the failed 1949 coup, see Gleijeses, Shattered Hope, 50–71.
38. Arévalo, September 6, 1957, JJA Papers, CIRMA, September folder, box 39; unknown author, undated, March folder, box 41; Roberto Alvarado Fuentes, July 17, 1958, July folder; Raúl Osegueda, December 20, 1958, December folder; Eliseo Martínez Zelada, November 19, 1958, November folder; Eliseo Martínez Zelada, December 3, 1958, December folder; unknown author, December 11, 1958, December folder; Augusto Charnaud, September 29, 1957, September folder, box 39.
39. Vrana, This City Belongs to You, 99, 101–102
40. Greg Grandin, Last Colonial Massacre, 87.
41. Grandin, Last Colonial Massacre, 91; Vrana, This City Belongs to You, 99.
42. Vrana, This City Belongs to You, 98,102; Jonas, The Battle for Guatemala, 59–60. The bribe was a cause for pessimism for some Arevalistas. Juan José Meza, January 31, 1958, JJA Papers, CIRMA. January folder, box 41.
43. Juan José Arévalo to Raúl Osegueda, September 6, 1957, JJA Papers, CIRMA, September folder, box 39; Raúl Osegueda, August 27, 1957, September folder.
44. Juan José Arévalo to Raúl Osegueda, September 6, 1957, JJA Papers, CIRMA, September folder, box 39; Juan José Arévalo to Charnaud, September 8, 1957, September folder.
45. Gleijeses, Shattered Hope, 75–76, 82–83, 217, 222; McClintock, The American Connection, 16–17; Cullather, Secret History, 49–51.
46. Grandin, Last Colonial Massacre, 91. The mass demonstrations condemning electoral fraud briefly made Arévalo optimistic. Juan José Arévalo, October 3, 1957, JJA Papers, CIRMA, October folder, box 39.
47. At least, Urrutia appears to be an admirer of Arévalo, based on the letters he wrote to him. In his doctoral dissertation, he refers to Arévalo as “a socialist with strong anti-American feelings.” Carlos Urrutia Aparicio, “Diplomatic Asylum in Latin America” (PhD diss.: American University, 1960), 159.
48. Carlos Urrutia Aparicio, July 19, 1957, JJA Papers, CIRMA, July folder, box 39. Interestingly, the same letter expresses hope that Fidel Castro's movement in Cuba could signal a region-wide rejection of dictatorship.
49. Carlos Urrutia Aparicio, October 29, 1956, JJA Papers, CIRMA, October 1956 folder, box 39.
50. Carlos Urrutia Aparicio, March 20, 1958, JJA Papers, CIRMA, March folder, box 41.
51. Carlos Urrutia Aparicio, May 5, 1958, and March 20, 1958, JJA Papers, CIRMA, May folder, box 41.
52. Carlos Urrutia Aparicio, September 20, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, September folder, box 49.
53. On Ydígoras's right turn, see Vrana, This City Belongs to You, 95, 98–99, 102–104; and Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico, Guatemala, memoria del silencio: informe de la Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico, (Guatemala: CEH, 1999).
54. William B. Connett Jr. to US Department of State, List of Guatemalans in Exile [Includes Attachments], November 13, 1957, Guatemala City, DNSA, accession no. GU00023.
55. Juan José Meza, January 27, 1958, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January folder, box 41.
56. Juan José Meza, January 31, 1958, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January folder, box 41.
57. Gleijeses, Shattered Hope, 392–394.
58. Terry Lynn Karl, “The Hybrid Regimes of Central America,” Journal of Democracy 6:3 (July 1, 1995): 72–86.
59. Carlos Urrutia Aparicio, July 19, 1957, JJA Papers, CIRMA, July folder, box 39.
60. Mario Paiz Novales, January 6, 1959, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January folder, box 41.
61. This was one of many letters in 1959 enthusiastically praising Castro. Mario Paiz Novales, January 6, 1959, JJA Papers, CIRMA; Juan José Meza, January 27, 1959; Luis Díaz Gómez, January 7, 1959; José Nucete Sardi, January 7, 1959 (quoted letter); Luis (full name unclear), February 19, 1959, and April 24, 1959; Alberto Ordóñez Argüello, February 18, 1959; Edelberto Torres April 4, 1959; Vicente Sáenz, May 23, 1959; José Gatria, July 19, 1959; Waldo Medina, December 11, 1959, box 41.
62. Claridad, November 1959, JJA Papers, CIRMA, November 1959 folder, box 41.
63. Raúl Castro, September 24, 1959, JJA Papers, CIRMA, September 1959 folder, box 41.
64. Raúl Madiedo, December 18, 1959, box 41, December folder, JJA Papers, CIRMA; Raúl Madiedo, January 30, 1960, January folder, box 56; José R. “Chepe” Castro, February 1, 1960, June 13, 1960, and June 15, 1960, June folder; Luis (full name unclear), February 22, 1960, July 15, 1960, and September 4, 1960, September folder; unknown author, May 27, 1960, May folder; Guillermo Lorentzen, September 3, 1960, September folder.
65. Letters exchanged with Bohemia Libre editors: Miguel Quevedo, September 27, 1960, JJA Papers, CIRMA, September folder, box 56; Bernardo Viera Trejo, October 25, 1960, and November 23, 1960, November folder. In August 1960, Arévalo sent a cable to Raúl Roa, the Cuban foreign minister, to secure Quevedo's salvoconducto from the island, just before he publicly broke with the Cuban Revolution. Arévalo's break with Castro worried some longtime allies. Rafael Leiva Vivas, November 30, 1960, November folder, box 56, JJA Papers, CIRMA,; unknown author, December 10, 1960, December folder; Mario Paiz Novales, January 6, 1961, January folder, box 43.
66. Roberto Alvarado Fuentes, October 17, 1960, JJA Papers, CIRMA, October folder, box 56; Ángel M. Hurtado de Mendoza, May 8, 1961, May folder, box 43. Hurtado de Mendoza's letter informs Arévalo that “reactionaries” had been spreading lies about his Cuba position in Bohemia Libre.
67. See unknown author (Mexico City), January 1, 1961, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January folder, box 43; unknown author (Rio de Janeiro), April 3, 1961, April folder; Carlos Quijano, April 10, 1961, April folder; Pilia (full name unknown), April 25, 1961, April folder; Salazar (full name unknown) May 10, 1961, May folder; José R. “Chepe” Castro, July 12, 1961, and September 20, 1961, September folder; Amilcar Vasconcellos, May 31, 1961; Grupo Místico Universitario Arevalísta, September 28, 1961, September folder; Raúl Osegueda, September 4, 1961, September folder; and Luis Conte Agüero October 14, 1961, October folder. Arévalo expands on his critique of Castro in a letter to his mother, dated December 3, 1960, December folder, box 56..
68. Jacobo Arbenz, September 5, 1960, JJA Papers, CIRMA, September folder, box 56.
69. Arévalo, December 9, 1960, JJA Papers, CIRMA, September folder, box 56.
70. Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico, Guatemala, memoria del silencio, 122–123; Stephen M. Streeter, Managing the Counterrevolution: The United States and Guatemala, 1954–1961 (Athens: Ohio University Center for International Studies, 2000), 210–238; George Black, Milton H. Jamail, and Norma Stoltz Chinchilla, Garrison Guatemala (New York: North American Congress on Latin America, 1983), 65–66; McClintock, The American Connection, 49–50; Jonas, The Battle for Guatemala, 66.
71. Arturo Taracena Arriola, Guatemala, la república española, y el gobierno Vasco en el exilio, 1944–1954, (Mérida: UNAM, 2017), 341–342; Weld, “The Other Door,” 27–28.
72. Juan Ángel Núñez Aguilar, December 5, 1960, JJA Papers, CIRMA, December folder, box 56.
73. Eliseo Martínez Zelada, December 24, 1960, JJA Papers, CIRMA, December folder, box 56.
74. Juan José Arévalo to Jacobo Arbenz, December 9, 1960, JJA Papers, CIRMA, December folder, box 56.
75. Arévalo receive many letters insisting he alone could save Guatemala. Alberto (full name unknown) January 30, 1958, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January 1958 folder, box 41; Humberto González Juárez, January 23, 1954, January folder, box 37; Juan José Meza, July 27, 1954, July folder, box 37; Juan Ángel Núñez Aguilar, January 3, 1955, January folder, box 38; F. José Monsanto, February 14, 1955, February folder, box 38, and November 4, 1959, November 1959 folder, box 41; Max García Ruiz, June 23, 1955, June folder, box 38; Rafael (full name unknown) February 6, 1959, February 1959 folder, box 41; Roberto Alvarado Fuentes, December 12, 1959, December 1959 folder, box 41; Mario Paiz Novales, January 6, 1961, January folder, box 43; Álvaro Hugo, July 30, 1961, July folder, box 43; Grupo Místico Universitario Arevalista, September 28, 1961, September folder, box 43; Hector (full name unknown) September 25, 1961, September folder, box 43.
76. Among the letters anticipating landslide victory for Arévalo are Mario Galán Palomo, July 24, 1962, JJA Papers, CIRMA, July folder, box 47; Efraín de los Ríos, July 29, 1962, July folder,; Julio (full name unknown), June 30, 1962, June folder,; and the Mazatenango group, June 20, 1962, June folder.
77. On Americans’ fears that Arévalo would win, see Max Paul Friedman, Rethinking Anti-Americanism: The History of an Exceptional Concept in American Foreign Relations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 151–155.
78. Roberto Alvarado Fuentes, July 17, 1958, July folder, box 41; Aquiles Serdán, March 5, 1960, March folder, box 56. See also note 38 above.
79. Arturo Morales Cubas, August 25, 1962, JJA Papers, CIRMA, August folder, box 47.
80. Humberto González Juárez, December 12, 1962, JJA Papers, CIRMA, December folder, box 47. Humberto was murdered in a death-squad operation in 1970. McClintock, The American Connection, 99.
81. The major parties were PNR-44, MAR, PUD, and PRO. A campaign leader counted six parties supporting Arévalo by the end of February 1963, adding PNR-auténtico and PNR de la 11 calle. Carlos Leonidas Acevedo, February 28, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, February folder, box 49.
82. Jorge Luis Zelaya, January 3, 1962, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January folder, box 47; Edgar Monsanto and others, July 24, 1962, July folder; Jaime Anibal Maldonado, August 9, 1962, August folder; Julio Sosa M., September 2, 1962, September folder, and November 7, 1962, November folder; Comisión Política del PNR-44, November 19, 1962, November folder; Mario Paiz Novales, December 5, 1962, December folder.
83. Carlos Leonidas Acevedo, December 5, 1962, JJA Papers, CIRMA, December folder, box 47; Juan Antonio Ramírez Retana, June 20, 1962, June folder; Tomás Sierra Roldán, July 22, 1962, July folder.
84. Schlesinger is quoted in Stephen M. Streeter, “Nation-Building in the Land of Eternal Counter-Insurgency: Guatemala and the Contradictions of the Alliance for Progress,” Third World Quarterly 27:1 (February 2006): 57–68.
85. This view was shared by Carleton Beals, wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times defending Arévalo and likening his record in office to the goals of the Alliance for Progress. It does not appear that the letter was published, but a copy made its way to Arévalo. Beals, January 4, 1962, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January folder, box 47.
86. See F. José Monsanto, March 22, 1959, JJA Papers, CIRMA, March folder, box 41; José R. “Chepe” Castro, January 2, 1962, January folder, box 47; Juan Ángel Núñez Aguilar, August 28, 1956, August 1956 folder, box 39; and Ángel Hurtado de Mendoza, undated, August 1954 folder, box 37. Arévalo himself drew the comparison to the New Deal in his open letter discussed below, as well as in an interview he gave to the Venezuelan periodical Combate on March 14, 1963.
87. José R. “Chepe” Castro, January 15, 1962, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January folder, box 47.
88. Eileen Brand, April 11, 1961, JJA Papers, CIRMA, April folder, box 43; Lyle Stuart, December 22, 1961, December folder.
89. In an open letter, discussed below, Arévalo noted in passing that Noriega Morales was a friend of his, while arguing he was well positioned to partner with the Alliance for Progress. Juan José Arévalo, Carta política al pueblo de Guatemala (Guatemala: Editorial San Antonio, 1963). Their friendship was also brought to the attention of the White House. Friedman, Rethinking Anti-Americanism, 153–154.
90. Manuel Noriega Morales, November 8, 1962, JJA Papers, CIRMA, November folder, box 47.
91. Manuel Noriega Morales, January 9, 1963, and January 10, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January folder, box 49.
92. Juan Ángel Núñez Aguilar, May 11, 1962, JJA Papers, CIRMA, May folder, box 47.
93. Juan Ángel Núñez Aguilar, January 23, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January folder, box 49.
94. In the same report, Bell argued that the stated objective of US policy in Guatemala—to preserve a constitutional democratic government—was naïve, and suggested that the objective change to preventing Guatemala from becoming a communist state. John Bell, Guidelines for Policy and Operations: Guatemala [Includes Attachment], September 11, 1962, DNSA, Accession no. GU00093.
95. Defense Intelligence Agency, “Cold War (Counter Insurgency) Analysis: Guatemala,” September 10, 1963, DNSA, Accession no. GU00147.
96. Benjamin J. Ruyle, “Visit of Secretary Martin to Guatemala,” July 20, 1962, DNSA, Accession no. GU00090.
97. John Bell, “U.S. Interests and the Guatemalan Political Scene,” March 30, 1962, DNSA, Accession no. GU00078.
98. On certification issues, see PNR-44 Sub-Secretaria de Organización, January 7, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, January folder, box 49; Jorge Luis Zelaya Coronado, October 17, 1962, October folder, box 47; and Álvaro Hugo, January 24, 1963, January folder, box 49. There was fear at one point that the government would raise the threshold to 50,000 signatures.
99. On Arévalo's move to Mexico in February 1962, see Vicente Sáenz, July 10, 1961, JJA Papers, CIRMA, July folder, box 43; Salazar (full name unknown) December 17, 1961, December folder, box 43; Álvaro Hugo Salguero, December 7, 1961, December folder, box 43; and Ramiro Ordóñez Paniagua, February 20, 1962, February folder, box 47.
100. Julio (full name unknown) June 30, 1962, JJA Papers, CIRMA, June folder, box 47; Mario Galán Palomo, July 24, 1962, July folder, box 47; Efraín de los Ríos, July 29, 1962, July folder; Grupo Místico, January 3, 1962, January folder, box 47.
101. Julio (full name unknown), October 20, 1962, JJA Papers, CIRMA, October folder, box 47; Diego Córdoba, May 29, 1957, May 1957 folder, box 39; Mario Paiz Novales, September 12, 1962, September folder, and October 15, 1962, October folder, box 47.
102. Arévalo, Carta política.
103. John Bell, “U.S. Interests and the Guatemalan Political Scene,” March 30, 1962, DNSA, Accession no. GU00078; Department of States, “Guatemala,” January 22, 1963, DNSA, Accession no. GU00108.
104. Carlos Leonidas Acevedo, January 15, 1962, January folder, box 47, JJA Papers, CIRMA; Acevedo, February 21, 1962, , February folder; Humberto González Juárez, February 22, 1963, February folder, box 49; Ysmael (full name unknown), February 18, 1963, February folder; Julio Sosa, February 23, 1963, February folder. Arévalo wrote an open letter to Ydígoras denying the charges prior to arriving. See Arévalo, March 11, 1963, March folder.
105. Arévalo, Carta política.
106. Arévalo, Carta política.
107. Víctor Manuel Gutiérrez, “El Dr. Arévalo y el marxismo-leninismo,” press clippings from 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, box 49.
108. Kathryn Sikkink has argued that American policymakers’ efforts to promote human rights in Latin America during the Carter years and beyond were undercut by signaling problems that made US policy unclear to right-wing governments. In this case, it was the inverse problem: Arévalo and his supporters sent mixed signals to Washington, sometimes appearing like anti-American radical leftists, and at other times looking like willing partners. Kathryn Sikkink, Mixed Signals: U.S. Human Rights Policy and Latin America (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004).
109. On the publicity campaign for the English translation, see Lyle Stuart, October 31, 1962, JJA Papers, CIRMA, October folder, box 47; Lyle Stuart, November 20, 1961 and November 13, 1961, November folder, box 43.
110. Friedman, Rethinking Anti-Americanism, 151–155.
111. Humberto González Juárez estimated a 75,000-person demonstration could be organized to greet Arévalo at the airport. February 12, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, February folder, box 49.
112. He was however, apparently detected by American intelligence immediately upon his arrival. See CIA, “Arévalo's Return to Guatemala,” March 29, 1963, DNSA, Accession no. GU00125.
113. Asylum documents dated April 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, April folder, box 49.
114. On the UNESCO job, see the following letters: Juan Ángel Núñez Aguilar, May 10, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, May folder, box 49; Núñez Aguilar, June 21, 1963, June folder; Núñez Aguilar, August 19, 1963, August folder; Diego Arria, June 8, 1963, June folder; J. A. Mayobra, July 9, 1963, July folder; and José R. Castro, August 13, 1963, August folder. Letters urging Arévalo to take a stand include Pepe (full name unknown), May 13, 1963, May folder; Raúl Osegueda, July 22, 1963, July folder; Tomás Sierra Roldán, August 27, 1963, August folder, and undated letter September folder; Federico de León, August 1, 1963, August folder; and Palmieri (full name unknown), September 28, 1963, September folder.
115. Raúl Osegueda, April 25, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, April folder, box 49.
116. Humberto González Juárez, July 29, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, July folder, box 49.
117. Julio Sosa, June 8, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, June folder, box 49.
118. Mario Paiz Novales, June 7, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, June folder, box 49. On the AEU's history, see Vrana, This City Belongs to You, 33–35, 41, 76, 78–79, 82–84, 86–88, 110–111, 118, 147.
119. Arturo Campollo y Campollo, August 10, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, August folder, box 49.
120. Juan Antonio Morgan G., June 1, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, June folder, box 49.
121. Efraín de los Ríos, June 4, 1963, JJA Papers, CIRMA, June folder, box 49. He reported that Humberto González Juárez, Tomás Sierra Roldán, and the Palmieri brothers had been forced into exile.
122. On the bargain between Julio Cesar Méndez Montenegro and the Guatemalan armed forces, see Jonas, The Battle for Guatemala, 60; Vrana, This City Belongs to You, 135, 147; Grandin, Last Colonial Massacre, 93–94, 97–99; Jennifer Schirmer, Guatemalan Military Project, 17–18; and McClintock, The American Connection, 76–85; Proyecto Interdiocesano Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (Guatemala), Guatemala, Nunca Más: Informe Del Proyecto Interdiocesano Recuperación de La Memoria Histórica, Tercera Prensa, 1998, 267–275.
123. Grandin, Greg and Joseph, G. M., A Century of Revolution: Insurgent and Counterinsurgent Violence during Latin America's Long Cold War (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010)Google Scholar.
