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Event

The 1954 coup in Guatemala

Overthrow of President Árbenz in June 1954, in a CIA operation called PBSUCCESS.

18 links, 13 backed by primary records

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Dates
18–27 Jun 1954
Also known as
Operation PBSUCCESS
Wikidata
Q976887
How each side tells it

According to Bitter Fruit

According to United States government

According to Operation PBSUCCESS: The United States and Guatemala, 1952–1954

According to Commission for Historical Clarification

Side by side, with proof ›

Connections 18

interventions

involved

  • United Fruit Company according to the CIA history, company officials encouraged Castillo Armas with money and arms, and its public-relations adviser sent journalists to report on Communist activities Primary record 2
  • Central Intelligence Agency its first plan to oust Árbenz, PBFORTUNE, was approved in August 1952 and terminated once its cover was blown Primary record 2
  • Central Intelligence Agency a 1995 CIA history found assassination was still being considered until Árbenz resigned; the Archive says it was not carried out, but names are deleted so none can check Scholarship & press 1
  • United States government its Information Agency’s July 1954 report named allegations of U.S. officials’ financial interests in United Fruit among the attitudes it set out to counter Primary record 4
  • Guatemala City where the new U.S. ambassador, John Peurifoy, arrived in October 1953 Primary record 2
  • Jacobo Árbenz the CIA history says the Army gave him an ultimatum, and that the Agency “never found out why” the government collapsed Primary record 2

caused by

led to

appears in

Timeline 6 dates
  1. Aug 1953 Dwight D. Eisenhower intervened in The 1954 coup in Guatemala
  2. 9 Dec 1953 Allen Dulles intervened in The 1954 coup in Guatemala
  3. 13 Mar 1954 John Foster Dulles intervened in The 1954 coup in Guatemala
  4. Jun 1954 Central Intelligence Agency intervened in The 1954 coup in Guatemala
  5. 18–27 Jun 1954 The 1954 coup in Guatemala
  6. 18 Jun 1954 Carlos Castillo Armas intervened in The 1954 coup in Guatemala
Proof 6 sources
  1. CIA and Assassinations: The Guatemala 1954 Documents (Electronic Briefing Book No. 4), National Security Archive, George Washington University, 1997. Scholarship & press
    PBSUCCESS, authorized by President Eisenhower in August 1953, carried a $2.7 million budget
    until the day that Arbenz resigned in June 1954 the option of assassination was still being considered.
  2. Operation PBSUCCESS: The United States and Guatemala, 1952–1954 (CIA History Staff, Nicholas Cullather; released 1997), Central Intelligence Agency, 1994. Primary record Archived copy
    DCI Allen Dulles approves general plan for PBSUCCESS, allocates $3 million for the program.
    Secretary of State John Foster Dulles briefed on PBSUCCESS.
    The CIA's operation to overthrow the Government of Guatemala in 1954 marked an early zenith in the Agency's long record of covert action.
    At 2020 hours, Castillo Armas crosses the border.
    Company officials encouraged Castillo Armas with money and arms, and the rebel leader began seeking support from Central American leaders and the United States.
    Bernays laid down a PR barrage that sent correspondents from Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, and Chicago Tribune to report on Communist activities in Guatemala.
    DCI gives approval for PBFORTUNE.
    Miller wasted no time in terminating it.
    John Peurifoy, new US Ambassador, arrives in Guatemala City.
    Just as the entire operation seemed beyond saving, the Guatemalan Government suddenly, inexplicably collapsed. The Agency never found out why.
    The threat to American business was a minor part of a larger danger to the United States' overall security.
    The CIA's operation to overthrow the Government of Guatemala in 1954
  3. Bitter Fruit: The Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala (Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer, Doubleday, 1982), Doubleday, 1982. Scholarship & press
    Undersecretary of State Bedell Smith was seeking an executive job with United Fruit while helping to plan the coup against Guatemala
    But the takeover of United Fruit land was probably the decisive factor pushing the Americans into action.
  4. Report Prepared in the U.S. Information Agency, 27 July 1954 (FRUS Guatemala 1952–1954, doc. 280), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, 27 Jul 1954. Primary record
    public acceptance of allegations that the U.S. engineered the revolution and that U.S. officials had strong financial interests in the United Fruit Company
  5. Introduction, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Guatemala, U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, 2003. Primary record
    PBSUCCESS, an active plot to oust Jacobo Arbenz and free the hemisphere from the perceived dangers of Soviet-inspired international communism.
  6. Guatemala: Memory of Silence. Report of the Commission for Historical Clarification: Conclusions and Recommendations, Commission for Historical Clarification, 1999. Primary record
    After the overthrow of the government of Colonel Jacobo Arbenz in 1954, there was a rapid reduction of the opportunity for political expression.
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  1. Ask who benefited only where someone did, and not who is behind a countryAlibek1bed08df
  2. Add 55 stories, each checked against its sourcesAlibek96e92fe6

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