BBC: Quién era Jacobo Árbenz, el último presidente progresista de Guatemala, derrocado por la CIA hace 70 años
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Jacobo Árbenz
Juan Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as the 25th president of Guatemala. He was Minister of National Defense from 1944 to 1950, before he became the second democratically elected President of Guatemala, from 1951 to 1954. He was a major figure in the ten-year Guatemalan Revolution, which represented some of the few years of representative democracy…
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politics · President of Guatemala from 1951 to 1954 · university teacher · military personnel · politician · also Jacobo Árbenz, Jacobo Arbenz, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, Árbenz
Born 14 September 1913 · Died 27 January 1971 · Q216943
36 published statements · 0 followers
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2023· 1 entry
2011· 2 entries
Democracy Now: Guatemala Apologizes to Árbenz Family for U.S.-Backed Coup
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PR Newswire: Guatemalan Government Issues Official Apology to Deposed Former President Jacobo Arbenz's Family for Human Rights Violations - 57 Years Later
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2008· 1 entry
That Árbenz's legacy was still a matter of great dispute in Guatemala itself, while arguing that the image of Árbenz was significantly shaped by the CIA media campaign that followed the 1954 coup
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2006· 1 entry
Leading to five years of stop-and-start negotiations
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1999· 1 entry
The Árbenz family went before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to demand an apology from the Guatemalan government for the 1954 coup which saw him ousted
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1971· 2 entries
Died 1971-01-27.
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“Unfortunately even the President of the United States of America has made little of his high office, and he too, either through lack of information or other reasons, has lent himself to the campaign of pressure and intimidation against Guatemala.”
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1965· 1 entry
Árbenz was invited to the Communist Congress in Helsinki
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1953· 3 entries
A fact that was remarked upon by later observers
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The reform was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, but the Guatemalan Congress later impeached four judges associated with the ruling
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200,000 acres (81,000 ha) of uncultivated land was expropriated under Árbenz's agrarian reform law, and the company was offered compensation at the rate of 2
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1952· 3 entries
The Agrarian Reform Law swept the land, destroying forever the hegemony of the planters
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Provoked Truman to authorize Operation PBFortune, a covert operation to overthrow Árbenz
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When Árbenz passed Decree 900, the agrarian reform law
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1951· 5 entries
And soon after blocked arms purchases from Canada, Germany, and Rhodesia
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That "If the independence and prosperity of our people were incompatible, which for certain they are not, I am sure that the great majority of Guatemalans would prefer to be a poor nation, but free, and not a rich colony
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Which made the shortage of capital more acute
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Career landmark: president of Guatemala (1951–1954).
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Which eventually compelled the company to rehire a number of laid-off workers
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1950· 4 entries
Election won: 1950 election.
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The economically moderate Partido de Integridad Nacional (PIN) announced that Árbenz would be its presidential candidate in the upcoming election
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And without significant opposition defeated Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes, his nearest challenger, by a margin of over 50%
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Campaign: 1950 election.
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1947· 1 entry
Arana had demanded that certain labor leaders be expelled from the country; Árbenz vocally disagreed with Arana, and the former's intervention limited the number of deportees
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1945· 1 entry
Created a new position of "Commander of the Armed Forces", a position that was more powerful than that of the defense minister
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1944· 1 entry
And also through the strength of its teachers' union
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1938· 2 entries
Met his future wife María Vilanova, the daughter of a wealthy Salvadoran landowner and a Guatemalan mother from a wealthy family
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Met and married María Vilanova, who was a great ideological influence on him, as was José Manuel Fortuny, a Guatemalan communist
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1935· 1 entry
And served in the army until 1944, quickly rising through the ranks
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1931· 1 entry
An election in which he was the only candidate
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1929· 1 entry
The Great Depression led to the collapse of the economy and a rise in unemployment, leading to unrest among workers and laborers
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1913· 2 entries
Born 1913-09-14.
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To a wealthy family, son of a Swiss German father and a Guatemalan mother
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1899· 1 entry
Had major holdings of land and railroads across Central America, which it used to support its business of exporting bananas
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1871· 1 entry
The government of Justo Rufino Barrios passed laws confiscating the lands of the native Mayan people and compelling them to work in coffee plantations for minimal compensation
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