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It was first created by Communist Chinese party. Originates from Communist ideology.

Made companies and rich people pay more taxes. This was because the Guatemalan government had little money, and so to redistribute the wealth to the poor they took from the rich.

They took the United Fruit Company’s land and gave it to the people of Guatemala. The United Fruit Company’s land was worth a lot of money. The Guatemalans did not pay the full amount of money for the land.

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Our Main points

The United Fruit Company(UFCO), a American owned company and brought a lot of bananas to America owned a lot of land, and it was taken away suddenly by Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán during his presidency with advice from Communist parties

Communists were a part of his daily life, some even participating in his cabinet of officials.

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Arbenz was directly affiliated with prominent Communist leaders and will-known organizations

He also annexed land from the United Fruit company which was owned by the Americans. Directly violating American property was considered illegal so, the United States (we) were forced to take action and fight back.

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close advisor to Arbenz, agricultural secretary who helped write Decree 900 (Agrarian Reform Law). Founded the Guatemalan Communist Party in 1949 which was later renamed the Guatemalan Labor Party (PGT). He was secretary of the PGT until 1954 throughout his time advising Arbenz (Arbenz was in power 1951-1954).

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Arbenz Guzman’s wife came from El Salvador-a communist country. His wife was communist along with many of their friends.

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“The first news on Arbenz came to the media in Montevideo in April, when a newspaper reported that the former "Head of the pro-Soviet Guatemalan Government" had obtained "a visa to travel to our country."68 A few days later, the same newspaper devoted an exclusive editorial piece to this point in question: Arbenz was a "fully-discussed figure" for having been the "first governmental official outside the iron curtain who accepted to be an official guest in a Communist State." For this reason, it was "inadmissible to imagine that someone might have had the occurrence of inviting him," although if he eventually came we would have the "ungrateful duty to receive him."” (Roberto Garcia Ferrería, pg. 70).

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THE CIA AND JACOBO ARBENZ: HISTORY OF A DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN on JSTOR

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“The CIA, once confirming the forthcoming presence of the Guatemalan citizen in South America, designed a series of "operations against" him, including the circulation of statements, in various stages and through the usual channels of information, emphasizing Arbenz's friendship with "the Communists;" "exposing his political and subversive activities, and showing therefore that he had violated the norms of asylum;" underlining "Arbenz's unstable temperament. . . and his dependence on liquor;" and indicating that "his daughters still were behind the iron curtain."62 A physician working for the agency was assigned to work on "a study of Arbenz that could be presented as a work of a psychiatrist having had a series of interviews with him." The plan was to have this study seem "as if it had come from a Czech desertor" and the"idea behind it" was to "portray Arbenz as a person unfit for public life."” (Roberto Garcia Ferrería, pg. 70).

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THE CIA AND JACOBO ARBENZ: HISTORY OF A DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN on JSTOR

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“Regarding Arbenz's refuge, the propaganda stressed that far from his expected protagonism, the former president was "taking cover behind the four walls of the room he had been given, from which he never came out." Additionally, the propaganda diseminated "jokes" that were circulating "from person to person" among those in asylum, whose central "protagonist" was Arbenz. The publicity given to these humorous tales seemed to kill two birds with one stone: on the one hand, it implicitly assessed the president's "cowardice," and on the other it made clear his supposed "links" with communism. The jokes included the following: "an old supporter of Arbenz has nicknamed him Sandino, sarcastically comparing Arbenz with that Nicaraguan hero who honored his word by being killed;" and "Someone else says that the former president will go to the Russian university in Kurken, where he is going to lecture on how to govern... and defend the government against any invasion."” (Roberto Garcia Ferreira, pg. 63).

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THE CIA AND JACOBO ARBENZ: HISTORY OF A DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN on JSTOR

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A public-relations campaign painted Arbenz as a friend of communists (whose support he undoubtedly had). However, the contention of the U.S. government, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and much of the U.S. media that Arbenz had close connections with the Soviet bloc proved to be unsubstantiated.

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Jacobo Arbenz, (born September 14, 1913, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala-died January 27, 1971, Mexico City, Mexico), soldier, politician, and president of Guatemala (1951-54) whose nationalistic economic and social reforms alienated conservative landowners, conservative elements in the army, and the U.S. government and led to his overthrow.

Arbenz, the son of a Swiss pharmacist who had immigrated to Guatemala, was educated at the National Military Academy of Guatemala. He joined a group of leftist army officers that overthrew the Guatemalan dictator Jorge Ubico in 1944, and in 1949 he was the minister of war in Juan José Arévalo 's government. In March 1951 he succeeded to the presidency, supported by the army and the left-wing political parties, including the Guatemalan Communist Party.

Arbenz made agrarian reform the central project of his administration. This led to a clash with the largest landowner in the country, the U.S.-based United Fruit Company, whose idle lands he tried to expropriate. He also insisted that the company and other large landowners pay more taxes. As the reforms advanced, the U.S. government, cued by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, became increasingly alarmed, fearing the threat to sizable American banana investments and to U.S. bank loans to the Guatemalan government as well. Also of concern to the United States were the increasingly close relations between Guatemala and the communist bloc of nations. A public-relations campaign painted Arbenz as a friend of communists (whose support he undoubtedly had); however, the contention of the U.S. government, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and much of the U.S. media that Arbenz had close connections with the Soviet bloc proved to be unsubstantiated. Working in Honduras and El Salvador, the CIA helped to organize a counterrevolutionary army of exiles led by Col. Carlos Castillo Armas. Exaggerations of the size of the invading force panicked the capital; the Guatemalan army refused to fight for Arbenz, and he was forced to resign (June 27, 1954) and go into exile. He traveled to Mexico, Switzerland, and Paris and was offered asylum in the Soviet-bloc countries for a time. Meanwhile, in Guatemala, Castillo Armas, who soon became president, reversed most of the reforms of the previous decade and offered generous concessions to foreign investors. In 1957 Arbenz moved to Uruguay, then to Cuba, and in 1970 he returned to Mexico, where he was granted permanent asylum. One year later he drowned in his bathtub in Mexico City.

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Jacobo Arbenz, (born September 14, 1913, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala-died January 27, 1971, Mexico City, Mexico), soldier, politician, and president of Guatemala (1951-54) whose nationalistic economic and social reforms alienated conservative landowners, conservative elements in the army, and the U.S. government and led to his overthrow.

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In addition to calling him a Communist, opponents alternately labeled Arévalo a fascist or "Communist-fascist." Initial positive U.S. perceptions of the Guatemalan president changed drastically in 1947, when he signed a labor protection law that implicitly targeted the United Fruit Company.

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“The expropriations of United Fruit lands began in March 1953 when 209,842 acres of uncultivated land were taken by the government which offered a compensation of $627,572 in bonds. One month later the US Department of State complained to Arbenz demanding a $15,854,849 compensation for one of the two sized lands. While the Guatemalan government valued $2.99 per acre, the American government valued $ 75 per acre. The Guatemalan government did its valuation by using the information provided by the tax forms filled by United Fruit itself and, according to this information, this was the actual value of the land. United Fruit countered this argument by claiming that it had tried to raise the tax value before, but was prevented from doing so. The US government believed this version and endorsed the company's claim. The Guatemalan government refused to pay that amount and continued to expropriate United Fruit's lands in October 1953 and February 1954 offering the company a total of $500,000. This standoff led to worsening diplomatic relations between his country and the United States which saw his initiatives as too radical. United Fruit main shareholder, Samuel Zemurray endorsed an anti-Arbenz campaign in the American media and the U.S. Congress in order to show President Arbenz as a Communist threat in the Western Hemisphere.”-https://www.unitedfruit.org/arbenz.htm

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Born in 1913 in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala as a son of a Swiss immigrant that married a Guatemalan woman, Arbenz grew up as a member of the small Guatemalan middle class. His father committed suicide when Jacobo was still very young, likely because he was addicted to drugs. Arbenz, therefore, was raised only by his mother. The rigid structure the Guatemalan society offered few options for the local bourgeoise to climb the social ladder. So like many men of his generation, Arbenz chose his career in the military. He graduated as sub-lieutenant in 1935, and returned to the academy in 1937 as teacher of science and history.

By the time Arbenz was working in the Military Academy, Guatemala was under the dictatorship of Jorge Ubico, one of the most ruthless, dictators of Central America. Ubico was an admirer of Napoleon and he considered himself as some kind of re-creation of the Emperor in Central America. He ruled his country as a fiefdom with the tacit support of the traditional landowning classes. When he took power in 1931, he was not setting a precedent in his style of rule; Manuel Estrada, his predecessor, had not been less autocratic. Politics did not take center stage for Arbenz since he focused most of his attention on developing his military career, teaching in the Academy, and competing athletically in international competitions.

Arbenz indifference towards politics changed after he met Maria Cristina Vilanova during an athletic competition in El Salvador in 1939. Vilanova was the daughter of a wealthy, traditional Salvadorian family who always refused to accept the roles her society wanted for her in spite of her rigid Conservative education. Her parents wished her to become a secretary in one of her father's offices until she could find an acceptable husband, but this path was not in Vilanova's mind. She secretly read books on politics, and after traveling to Mexico shereturned with several classic works on Socialism. The large social inequalities of Salvadorian society shocked her and since very young she decided that she would try to change that. Soon after Arbenz and Vilanova met they decided to marry and Maria moved to Guatemala with her new husband. Once married, her views on Central American social problems began to have a strong political influence on Arbenz, and she introduced him to authors and theories he had never heard of before. During the first period of their marriage, they had many arguments over these political ideas and his reluctance for ideological commitment. Arbenz, however, became gradually more and more interested in the political and economic problems of the Guatemalan people. During this time Maria developed a strong friendship with Chilean Communist leader Virginia Bravo and the Salvadorian Communist exile Matilde Elena Lopez. These three women organized regular political discussions at the Arbenz family home and Jacobo learned more of Socialist theories. Additionally, they introduced to some people that would later help him in his political projects. It is said that during Arbenz political life, Maria Vilanova was more ambitious for his success than Arbenz himself. By the mid-1940s Arbenz was convinced that some changes were urgently needed in Guatemalan society.

Ubico began to lose power in his country in the early 1940s. The US government, his main supporter until then, began to distrust him because of his lax attitude towards the German immigrant population in Guatemala. Nazi Germany was expanding in Europe and the US Government wanted a close surveillance of all Germans in the hemisphere. In addition, he paid little attention to the rising middle class that could not find a space in a country controlled by a land-owning oligarchy. The turning point for his regime came in the Teachers' Day Parade scheduled for June 30,1944. In this occasion, the teachers refused to march in the parade and demanded better wages for their work. They found a quick and strong solidarity from students and other groups who supported them in street demonstrations. This was the first time large scale protests against the government had occured in Guatemala's history. On June 29, the largest demonstration was organized in Guatemala City and it was composed of a large number of teachers and a wide range of middle class people of other professions. Ubico's responded by sending the Army and quelling the demonstration violently. Of the two hundred people who were killed and wounded, was a leader of the teachers' union movement, Maria Chinchilla, who immediately became into a national martyr for the anti-Ubico movement.

The massacre, however, did not stop a formidable opposition. A few days later, a group of 311 teachers, lawyers, doctors, and businessmen handed a petition to Ubico in which demanded that the demonstrators' actions were legitimate. Under these circumstances, and with the end of political support from the US, Ubico was forced to resign. Power was handed over to General Francisco Ponce. Ponce tried to give a more democratic facade to his government by calling Presidential elections. He choose himself as candidate, while the opposition picked Juan Jose Arevalo.Arevalo was a former school-teacher exiled in Argentina who returned to Guatemala to run against Ponce. Ponce soon felt threatened by Arevalo's popularity and ordered his arrest just a few days after Arevalo arrived. At this point, Captain Jacobo Arbenz and Major Francisco Arana decided to revolt against Ponce. The two young officers killed their superior officers in Fort Matamoros and distributed arms to some anti-Ponce students. They were quickly joined by other officers and attacked the pro-Ponce military and police forces. Their efforts were successful when Ponce and Ubico were forced to abandon the country and Arbenz and Arana created a provisional junta with businessman Jorge Toriello, and promised free and democratic elections.

Under the junta rule the Guatemalan Bar Association wrote a new liberal constitution. It contained many new provisions: Censorship ended, the presidents could not be elected for two periods in a row, men and women were declared equal before the law, racial discrimination was declared a crime, higher education was free of governmental control, private monopolies were banned, workers were assured a forty-hour labor week, payment in coupons was forbidden, and labor unions were legalized. Arevalo won the first elections and attempted to begin an age of reforms in Guatemala.

Breaking with the past was not an easy task for Arevalo. In 1949 Major Arana, one of the men who rebelled against Ponce, was killed in what many people considered a product of a rivalry between Arevalo and Arana, or Arbenz and Arana. The assassination, however, did not stop Arbenz from running in the 1950 presidential elections. His rival was Manuel Ygidoras, a friend of Ubico's, who accused him throughout the campaign of orchestrating Arana's death. These accusations did not impede the triumph of Arbenz with 65% of the votes for him. Arbenz took power in March 15, 1951.

Arbenz began his government with several innovative projects. First, he pushed for the construction of a government run port to compete with United Fruit's Puerto Barrios. Second, he attempted to break the International Railways of Central America's (IRCA) transportation monopoly by building a highway to the Atlantic. Third, he planned to build a national hydroelectric plant to offer a cheaper energy alternative different from the American controlled electricity monopoly. Finally, Arbenz was the first Guatemalan President to consider an income tax, something that faced a strong opposition at the Congress.

Beyond these ambitious development and economic programs, his biggest dream was to push agrarian reform in Guatemala. In his opinion, he saw Guatemala's unequal land distribution in a predominantly rural society as the main obstacle to economic development. He saw this latifundio system as a backward legacy of colonial times and justified his project by arguing that it was the only way to create a real capitalistic society. He said that the country needed "an agrarian reform which puts an end to the latifundios and the semi-feudal practices, giving the land to thousands of peasants, raising their purchasing power and creating a great internal market favorable to the development of domestic industry."

Arbenz's agrarian reform was approved in 1952 with the Decree 900 which empowered the government to expropriate uncultivated portions of large plantations. Farms smaller than 223 acres were not subject to this law. Nor were those of 223-670 acres which at least two thirds cultivated. Farms of any size that were fully worked could not be expropriated either. If the government decided to expropriate it would reinburse the landowner with twenty-five-year government bonds with a 3% interest rate. The valuation of the land was to be determined from its declared taxable worth as of May 1952. The expropriated lands would be distributed only to landless peasants in plots not bigger of 42.5 acres each, and the new owners were not allowed to sell them or gain profits through speculation. The new owners would pay to the government a rental fee of 5% the value of the food produced, when living in an expropriated private land, and 3% if they were farms confiscated from the German immigrants during WWII.

The Agrarian Reform managed to give 1.5 million acres to around 100,000 families for which the government paid $8,345,545 in bonds. Among the expropriated landowners was Arbenz himself, -who had become into a land-owner with the dowry of his wealthy wife- and his later Foreign Minister, Guillermo Toriello. Around 46 farms were given to groups of peasants who organized themselves in cooperatives. The project did not go as smoothly as Arbenz wished. Some radical members of the Communist Party encouraged some peasants to invade lands before they were legally distributed to them and these squatters clashed with the police. The biggest obstacle to Arbenz' agrarian reform, however, was the opposition of the United Fruit Company.

United Fruit Company had been present in Guatemala since its was incorporated. Minor Keith, one of the founders of the company, bought lands and built railways in the country beginning in the late nineteenth century. The company had received generous land and communication concessions from the rulers prior to Arbenz, and this allowed it to control banana exports. Bananas were one of the two main exports of Guatemala, together with coffee, and United Fruit became one of the largest landowners of the country. Although the company made investments and improvements in transportation, communications, housing, and export infrastructure, some Guatemalans saw it with great suspicion. In fact, during Arevalo's government he took advantage of this unpopularity to support the banana workers who were striking for the benefits of the newly-created labor code. The company owned 550,000 acres in the Atlantic coast, from which a 85% was not cultivated, so it became into Arbenz's agrarian reform main target.

The expropriations of United Fruit lands began in March 1953 when 209,842 acres of uncultivated land were taken by the government which offered a compensation of $627,572 in bonds. One month later the US Department of State complained to Arbenz demanding a $15,854,849 compensation for one of the two sized lands. While the Guatemalan government valued $2.99 per acre, the American government valued $ 75 per acre. The Guatemalan government did its valuation by using the information provided by the tax forms filled by United Fruit itself and, according to this information, this was the actual value of the land. United Fruit contered this argument by claiming that it had tried to raise the tax value before, but was prevented to do so. The US government believed this version and endorsed the company's claim. The Guatemalan government refused to pay that amount and continued to expropriate United Fruit's lands in October 1953 and February 1954 offering the company a total of $500,000. This standoff led to worsening diplomatic relations between his country and the United States which saw his initiatives as too radical. United Fruit main shareholder, Samuel Zemurray endorsed an anti-Arbenz campaign in the American media and the U.S. Congress in order to show President Arbenz as a Communist threat in the Western Hemisphere.

Arbenz also faced strong internal opposition by conservative landowners and some members of the Army. Among the latter was Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas, a man who never stopped suspecting of Arbenz' participation in Arana's murder and who had gone into exile after Arbenz took power. Castillo prepared a rebel army in Nicaragua with the total support of that country's President Anastasio Somoza. In the meantime the Eisenhower's administration increasingly criticized Arbenz policies while the American media continued showing Guatemala as the foothold of Soviet expansion in the Americas. Additionally, after the strong pressure by US Secretary of State, Dulles, the Organization of American States resolves to condemn "Communist infiltration in the Americas."

Castillo received a strong financial and logistic support from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to prepare his Army in Honduran territory to attack Guatemala. The CIA's involvement had been approved by Eisenhower as a way to stop what they considered a spread of Communism in the Americas. CIA's director was Allen Dulles, brother of the American Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles. In June, 1954 the troops of Carlos Castillo crossed theHonduran-Guatemalan border and began their attack against Arbenz government. By this time not only was Arbenz internationally isolated but he had also lost much support from his own army and peasant population. Young Argentinean doctor, Ernesto Guevara (later known as "El Ché), attempted to organize some civil militias along with several members of the Communist Party. However, most of the Guatemalans felt they were in a very weak position compared to the invading Army, after they heard from a clandestine radio that reported a larger invading army and the bomber that dropped some bombs around Guatemala City. The demolarized population simply resigned to be defeated by Castillo.

Arbenz himself was hard hit when the invasion began. When he realized that any kind of resistance would only bring more deaths and little success for his movement he decided to announce his resignation over the radio. In his dramatic speech he claimed that:

"They have used the pretext of anti-communism.The truth is very different. The truth is to be found in the financial interests of the fruit company and the other US monopolies which have invested great amounts of money in Latin America and fear that the example of Guatemala would be followed by other Latin countries.[...] I was elected by a majority of the people of Guatemala, but I have had to fight under difficult conditions. The truth is that the sovereignty of a people cannot be maintained without the material elements to defend it.[...] I took over the presidency with great faith in the democratic system, in liberty and the possibility of achieving economic independence for Guatemala. I continue to believe that this program is just. I have not violated my faith in democratic liberties, in the independence of Guatemala and in all the good which is the future of humanity..[...]" (quoted by Schlessinger & Kinzer, 1990: 200)

After Arbenz handed power over to his friend Colonel Carlos Diaz he asked for asylum in the Mexican Embassy. The President's attitude disappointed many of his followers who expected more dignity and courage of their leader. Diaz government ended when Castillo's forces controlled most of the Guatemalan territory. After his triumph, Castillo and his allies organized a new government in a meeting in San Salvador, and Castillo was named President. Eisenhower recognized this new government as the legitimate Guatemalan government immediately, and Castillo reversed the Arbenz reforms. His main targets were the Agrarian Reform Law and the legalization of union activities. In July 19, 1954, he created the National Committee of Defense Against Communism and decreed the Preventive Penal Law Against Communism to fight against those who supported Arbenz when he was in power.

After his defeat Arbenz began a difficult life as an exile. He and his family travelled to Mexico and then to Switzerland, where Arbenz hoped to get the residency as the child of a Swiss citizen. However, the Swiss government told him he could only stay in that country only if he renounced to his Guatemalan citizenship, something he refused to do. When they were forced to leave, they went to Paris, where he lived under a constant watchful eye of the French police. After one month living there he was offered asylum in every Soviet-bloc country, so he chose Czechoslovakia for considering it the most cosmopolitan country of Eastern Europe. However, the Czechs did not welcome him and he had to move to Moscow with his wife, while their children studied in a school for foreigners 400 miles from the city. The Arbenz family could not adapt to Russia and did everything to go back to Latin America. The only country that accepted to give him asylum was Uruguay, only if he promised not to take a job, not to become involved in politics, and to report to the police once a week. He accepted the conditions and lived in Montevideo from 1957 to 1960.That year, the new Cuban President Fidel Castro invited him to live in Cuba and he accepted immediately. He had turned to drinking to relieve his problems and life in Cuba did not improve his fate. He was having serious personal and family problems and disliked the way Castro was managing the revolution. In addition, he felt irritated when Castro warned the US against any kind of intervention by saying "Cuba is not Guatemala." But, by that time, his main problems were at home. His eldest daughter, Arabella, refused to follow him and decided to stay in Paris studying to be an actress. She always was a rebel in the family and was a critic of his father insistence on educating the children in exclusive private schools in spite of his socialist discourse. She also irritated her Soviet teachers by refusing to join the Communist youth organizations. Later, when traveling with her boyfriend around Latin America, Arabella had a strong argument with her boyfriend in a restaurant in Bogota, Colombia. During the fight she pulled a gun from her purse and killed herself in front of him. Arbenz was devastated by the death of his twenty-five year old daughter and lost the little interest that still remained in him in politics.

In 1970, Mexico gave him permanent asylum. One year later, he drowned in his bathtub. He was fifty-eight. After his death, his wife Maria Cristina Vilanova returned to El Salvador to make peace with her family and to settle in that country. Her enthusiasm for politics decreased as well as her political radicalism. When the civil war broke in El Salvador, she left the country and moved to Paris.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: William Griffith, "Jacobo Arbenz" in Helen Delpar (ed), Encyclopedia of Latin America (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974); Stephen Schlesinger & Stephen Kinzer, Bitter Fruit (New York: Anchor Press, 1990); Thomas McCann, An American Company: The Tragedy of the United Fruit (New York: Crown, 1976)

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Born in 1913 in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala as a son of a Swiss immigrant that married a Guatemalan woman, Arbenz grew up as a member of the small Guatemalan middle class. His father committed suicide when Jacobo was still very young, likely because he was addicted to drugs.

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Article 92 narrowed Article 91's interpretation by indicating that the government would be legally empowered to expropriate land at any time to fulfill the needs of society at large. Although Arévalo never invoked Articles 91 and 92, Guatemala's landed elite were alarmed at such a possible threat to private property and accused Arévalo of succumbing to Communist influence.

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Arbenz became a secret opponent of Guatemalan dictator, Jorge Ubico. In the 1930s Sam Zemurray aligned United Fruit Company closely with the government of President Jorge Ubico.In June, 1944, teachers in Guatemala went on strike for higher pay. Other professions joined the teachers in street demonstrations. Ubico sent in the army and over 200 protesters were killed. This included Maria Chinchilla, the leader of the teachers' union movement. At this stage, the United States withdrew its support of Ubico. https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKarbenz.htm

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In 1939 Arbenz met and fell in love with Maria Cristina Vilanova. They were married soon afterwards. Maria was a socialist and soon converted her husband to this political philosophy. During this period Maria developed a strong friendship with the Chilean Communist leader Virginia Bravo and the Salvadoran Communist exile Matilde Elena Lopez. These three women organized regular political discussions at the Arbenz family home. https://www2.umbc.edu/che/tahlessons/pdf/historylabs/Guatemalan_Coup_student:RS01.pdf

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Jacobo joined a group of leftist army officers that overthrew the Guatemalan dictator Jorge Ubico in 1944, and in 1949 he was the minister of war in Juan José Arévalo’s government. In March 1951 he succeeded to the presidency, supported by the army and the left-wing political parties, including the Guatemalan Communist Party.

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A public-relations campaign painted Arbenz as a friend of communists (whose support he undoubtedly had). However, the contention of the U.S. government, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and much of the U.S. media that Arbenz had close connections with the Soviet bloc proved to be unsubstantiated.

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Jacobo Arbenz, (born September 14, 1913, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala-died January 27, 1971, Mexico City, Mexico), soldier, politician, and president of Guatemala (1951-54) whose nationalistic economic and social reforms alienated conservative landowners, conservative elements in the army, and the U.S. government and led to his overthrow.

Arbenz, the son of a Swiss pharmacist who had immigrated to Guatemala, was educated at the National Military Academy of Guatemala. He joined a group of leftist army officers that overthrew the Guatemalan dictator Jorge Ubico in 1944, and in 1949 he was the minister of war in Juan José Arévalo 's government. In March 1951 he succeeded to the presidency, supported by the army and the left-wing political parties, including the Guatemalan Communist Party.

Arbenz made agrarian reform the central project of his administration. This led to a clash with the largest landowner in the country, the U.S.-based United Fruit Company, whose idle lands he tried to expropriate. He also insisted that the company and other large landowners pay more taxes. As the reforms advanced, the U.S. government, cued by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, became increasingly alarmed, fearing the threat to sizable American banana investments and to U.S. bank loans to the Guatemalan government as well. Also of concern to the United States were the increasingly close relations between Guatemala and the communist bloc of nations. A public-relations campaign painted Arbenz as a friend of communists (whose support he undoubtedly had); however, the contention of the U.S. government, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and much of the U.S. media that Arbenz had close connections with the Soviet bloc proved to be unsubstantiated. Working in Honduras and El Salvador, the CIA helped to organize a counterrevolutionary army of exiles led by Col. Carlos Castillo Armas. Exaggerations of the size of the invading force panicked the capital; the Guatemalan army refused to fight for Arbenz, and he was forced to resign (June 27, 1954) and go into exile. He traveled to Mexico, Switzerland, and Paris and was offered asylum in the Soviet-bloc countries for a time. Meanwhile, in Guatemala, Castillo Armas, who soon became president, reversed most of the reforms of the previous decade and offered generous concessions to foreign investors. In 1957 Arbenz moved to Uruguay, then to Cuba, and in 1970 he returned to Mexico, where he was granted permanent asylum. One year later he drowned in his bathtub in Mexico City.

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Jacobo Arbenz, (born September 14, 1913, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala-died January 27, 1971, Mexico City, Mexico), soldier, politician, and president of Guatemala (1951-54) whose nationalistic economic and social reforms alienated conservative landowners, conservative elements in the army, and the U.S. government and led to his overthrow.