LatAm: You brought us genocide, civil riots, dictatorship and 4 decades of suffering
US: Yes, but did you see the rise in US Fruits stock price!
kaneki_uzumaki20 on
well it’s an oversimplification but yea basically bananas
onichan-daisuki on
absolutely bananas
p_pio on
I mean… Hawaii was basically colonized and annexed for pineapples. Guatemala at least kind of kept its independence.
No-Village-6781 on
The fact that a sovereign country decides to operate on a different economic model (whatever your opinion on communism and its efficacy is irrelevant, it still doesn’t justify genocide) being accepted grounds for regime change is wild, let alone the actual reason being that the fruit companies wanted a monopoly on banana plantations and were willing to genocide the mayan descendents to obtain it. To this day they’re still suffering the effects of the genocide committed by US backed death squads.
Legal_Turnip_7280 on
Monkey ahh move
Malcolm337CZ on
jeez guys can you at least put on some context?
inwarded_04 on
Since OP didn’t provide the context, I will step in (with some help from AI):
In 1954, there was a U.S.-backed coup in Guatemala:
Background
Post-WWII Guatemala was dominated by US corporate interests, the largesr was the U.S.-based United Fruit Company (UFCO), which owned vast banana plantations, ports, and railroads. Most Guatemalans lived in poverty while a small elite and foreign companies controlled the land.
Reform governments: In 1944, the “October Revolution” ended military dictatorship and began a decade of democratic reform.
President Juan José Arévalo (1945–1951) introduced labor rights, social security, and expanded education. Succeeded by President Jacobo Árbenz (1951–1954) went further, enacting agrarian reform through Decree 900 (1952), redistributing unused land (including UFCO’s holdings) to poor peasants.
U.S. concerns:
UFCO lobbied the U.S. government heavily, portraying Árbenz as a communist threat to American interests. The Eisenhower administration (with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and CIA Director Allen Dulles, both with ties to UFCO) feared Guatemala could become a Soviet foothold in Latin America during the Cold War.
The Coup (1954):
Operation PBSUCCESS: The CIA planned and executed a covert operation to overthrow Árbenz. This included funding, training and arming a rebel force led by exiled officer Carlos Castillo Armas.
Psychological warfare (radio broadcasts, propaganda, staged “attacks”) to spread fear of a communist uprising.
Diplomatic and economic pressure on Guatemala.
June 1954: The rebel invasion, though militarily weak, created panic. Árbenz, isolated and without strong military support, resigned on June 27, 1954 and went into exile.
—
Results
Immediate: Castillo Armas took power, reversing land reforms and aligning Guatemala closely with U.S. interests.
Impact on Guatemala:
Peasant land redistribution ended; much was returned to elites and UFCO.
Repression of unions, leftists, and Indigenous activists intensified.
U.S.-backed military regimes dominated Guatemala for decades.
Long-term:
The coup destabilized Guatemala, helping trigger a 36-year civil war (1960–1996) in which over 200,000 people were killed or disappeared, mostly Indigenous civilians.
It also set a precedent for U.S. intervention in Latin America, fueling distrust and anti-American sentiment across the region.
—
In short: The U.S. toppled Guatemala’s elected reformist government in 1954 to protect economic and strategic interests, replacing it with a dictatorship that led to decades of violence and civil war.
8 Comments
LatAm: You brought us genocide, civil riots, dictatorship and 4 decades of suffering
US: Yes, but did you see the rise in US Fruits stock price!
well it’s an oversimplification but yea basically bananas
absolutely bananas
I mean… Hawaii was basically colonized and annexed for pineapples. Guatemala at least kind of kept its independence.
The fact that a sovereign country decides to operate on a different economic model (whatever your opinion on communism and its efficacy is irrelevant, it still doesn’t justify genocide) being accepted grounds for regime change is wild, let alone the actual reason being that the fruit companies wanted a monopoly on banana plantations and were willing to genocide the mayan descendents to obtain it. To this day they’re still suffering the effects of the genocide committed by US backed death squads.
Monkey ahh move
jeez guys can you at least put on some context?
Since OP didn’t provide the context, I will step in (with some help from AI):
In 1954, there was a U.S.-backed coup in Guatemala:
Background
Post-WWII Guatemala was dominated by US corporate interests, the largesr was the U.S.-based United Fruit Company (UFCO), which owned vast banana plantations, ports, and railroads. Most Guatemalans lived in poverty while a small elite and foreign companies controlled the land.
Reform governments: In 1944, the “October Revolution” ended military dictatorship and began a decade of democratic reform.
President Juan José Arévalo (1945–1951) introduced labor rights, social security, and expanded education. Succeeded by President Jacobo Árbenz (1951–1954) went further, enacting agrarian reform through Decree 900 (1952), redistributing unused land (including UFCO’s holdings) to poor peasants.
U.S. concerns:
UFCO lobbied the U.S. government heavily, portraying Árbenz as a communist threat to American interests. The Eisenhower administration (with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and CIA Director Allen Dulles, both with ties to UFCO) feared Guatemala could become a Soviet foothold in Latin America during the Cold War.
The Coup (1954):
Operation PBSUCCESS: The CIA planned and executed a covert operation to overthrow Árbenz. This included funding, training and arming a rebel force led by exiled officer Carlos Castillo Armas.
Psychological warfare (radio broadcasts, propaganda, staged “attacks”) to spread fear of a communist uprising.
Diplomatic and economic pressure on Guatemala.
June 1954: The rebel invasion, though militarily weak, created panic. Árbenz, isolated and without strong military support, resigned on June 27, 1954 and went into exile.
—
Results
Immediate: Castillo Armas took power, reversing land reforms and aligning Guatemala closely with U.S. interests.
Impact on Guatemala:
Peasant land redistribution ended; much was returned to elites and UFCO.
Repression of unions, leftists, and Indigenous activists intensified.
U.S.-backed military regimes dominated Guatemala for decades.
Long-term:
The coup destabilized Guatemala, helping trigger a 36-year civil war (1960–1996) in which over 200,000 people were killed or disappeared, mostly Indigenous civilians.
It also set a precedent for U.S. intervention in Latin America, fueling distrust and anti-American sentiment across the region.
—
In short: The U.S. toppled Guatemala’s elected reformist government in 1954 to protect economic and strategic interests, replacing it with a dictatorship that led to decades of violence and civil war.