If you were a native to a country in which you are treated as a slave, discriminated against, and segregated from others, what would you consider a reasonable action for change?  How would you react if your people were continuously tortured, murdered, and given no rights?  If a newly elected president from another country posed a financial threat toward one’s major United States Corporation that traded tropical fruit (primarily bananas and pineapples) in Guatemala, how would one handle such a threat?  Let’s say a newly elected president of the country in which you dominate the market, decides to confiscate and redistribute your land.  How does your company maintain its land?  What if communism further threatened your business and your country, leading your country to war? How would you go about these situations?  What would you consider the causes of the war?  These questions arose for the Guatemalan natives, United Fruit Company (UFC) and U.S. President Eisenhower when newly elected President Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán of Guatemala, came into power.  The lack of Mayan rights, redistribution of the UFC’s land, and fear of communism can be viewed as the triggering of the 36-year Civil War in Guatemala.

First off, during the civil war the Maya Indians were fighting a loosing battle for their rights. The Mayas, whom make up sixty percent of the population (Pando), had been fighting for years against the government and local plantation owner over the use of the land. Since the colonial times, Spaniards and Ladinos alike have subjected the Native Americans to legal, social, political, and economic discrimination (Pando). The Mayas were looked down upon by the Ladinos because the Maya people did not want to assimilate with Ladinos culture, in fear of loosing their culture completely. The Mayas began to organize several groups to oppose the landowner and also by affiliation, the United Fruit Company.  As a result, they have been suffering from the threat of genocide and terrorism over the issues of distribution of their land to the plantation owners who were often Ladinos (Pando). The Ladinos were most often assumed to be the agriculture elite, military, and government (Pando).  Most of the Mayas did not speak Spanish and were often times illiterate. Furthermore, many Mayas refused to send their children to public schools or refused them to learn Spanish.  In many cases, the Ladinos used this to their advantage, by either forcing or tricking the Mayas off their land.  The Mayas main reason for wanting to keep their land was so that they could preserve their way of life, and their heritage. The Ladinos had a different motivation, and that was profit and more power. In the eyes of the Ladinos, they were not about to let some low life Maya community get in the way of their fortune, and this meant, no mercy.

Another huge contributor to the civil war in Guatemala was the redistribution of the United Fruit Company’s land.  The United Fruit Company owned 40 percent of Guatemala’s land and controlled the country’s only real port, Puerto Barrios.   In addition, the UFC controlled the International Railways of Central America (rail roads) and Express Electra (electricity) (“A ‘killing field’”).  These controls allowed the United Fruit Company to monopolize the export of bananas and transport of goods. In 1951, the newly elected democratic president, Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán of Guatemala, came into power (“A ‘killing field’”).  Implementing the previous democratic president of Guatemala, Juan José Arevalo, Arbenz quickly pushed the agrarian reforms to put social and economic structure into the country.  In 1954, president Arbenz instituted a new land reform which forced the United Fruit Company to redistribute 160,000 acres of its uncultivated land back to the Guatemalan people (“A ‘killing field’”).  As a result, the United Fruit Company would face an open door of competition; lose its power over the exportation of bananas, and great financial loss.  President Arbenz’s new land reform put forth great financial loss for the UFC.  Arbenz offered to compensate the UFC $627,572 in government bonds, for its land (“Jacob Arbenz”).  The United Fruit Company declined the offer and demanded that the government pay them $15,854,849 for one of the two areas (“Jacob Arbenz”).  Arbenz then reviewed the tax forms written by the UFC, themselves and valued the uncultivated land according to their tax claim.  He then offered to compensate the United Fruit Company $500,000 in government bonds, for its land (“Jacob Arbenz”).  Again, the company refused to accept Arbenz’s compensation.  The United Fruit Company had undervalued their land at this amount only to reduce taxation. The true value of their land was close to $25,000,000.  The United Fruit Company had an obligation to the company’s shareholders which included showing a return on their investment.  Not accepting such a large financial loss, the UFC used its high share holders to protect the UFC’s as well as the United States’ economic interests in Guatemala.  The UFC’s high shareholders worked next to U.S. President Eisenhower.   The UFC was then able to influence President Eisenhower and his cabinet for military aid.

Finally, the U.S and UFC saw Arbenz’s radical reforms connected to communism in Guatemala.  At the time, Guatemala contained 1,200 communist throughout its country (Fitzgibbon).  Considering the country’s total population, 2,750,00, this was a very small amount (Fitzgibbon). “It was not even a large fraction of the roughly 20% of the whole population who were politically vocal” (Fitzgibbon).  What concerned U.S. President Eisenhower was the fact that the few that were communists had the power to influence due to their positions. President Arbenz had close friends that were communist.  One of Arbenz’s most vocal and ardent supporter’s was Jose Manuel Fortuny, a communist (Fitzgibbon). Using communist influence in his reforms, Arbenz became criticized as being a communist.  This came as a threat to the U.S because they considered anyone communist was considered tied to the Soviets.  Also, the communists gained “control of the important labor union, the government newspaper and radio, teachers’ groups, powerful Congressional committees and other key positions which enabled them to wield influence far beyond their numbers” (Fitzgibbon).  Since the communist now had ties and influence with the president of Guatemala, the United Fruit Company took action.  The UFC took advantage of their extremely close ties to U.S. President Eisenhower administration.   The company’s four major stock holders were: Samuel Zemurray, UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and head of the CIA Allen Dulles.  “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” (“Jacob Arbenz”).   Henry Cabot Lodge, John Foster Dulles, and Allen Dulles used their position of power to convince Eisenhower and his administration that Arbenz posed a threat of spreading communism.  In fear of communism and its threat to the U.S., President Eisenhower took action.  Eisenhower advanced the motion of aiding and funding the Guatemalan Military, which had overall control and power of the country, with supplies to end the spread of communism.  Also, Eisenhower aided the military with a U.S. CIA army and CIA planes.  The UFC and U.S. President Eisenhower acted quickly to prevent its company and country from economic hurt.

In conclusion, “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” (“Jacob Arbenz”) and fled to Cuba.  The United Fruit Company spent years developing and expanding in Guatemala.   United Fruit could not stand back and watch a newly elected president impact their company so greatly.  The redistribution brought great loss of power in their business with Guatemala.  This then brought financial loss to the company’s land and its future.  The spread of communism would further impact the United Fruit Company and the United States’ economy negatively.  Overall, the lack of Mayan rights, redistribution of UFC’s land, and fear of communism were the key factors in causing the 36-year Civil War in Guatemala.