Central America in the Cold War

Central America in the Cold War:When the Mountains Tremble and Salvador: 

Central America in the Cold War: When the Mountains Tremble and Salvador Col. Jacobo Arbenz Guzman (1951-54) – Elected president in Guatemala in the first election after the nation enacted universal suffrage. Arbenz was a social and economic reformer and immediately initiated aggressive political and land reforms to benefit the nation’s large poor peasant class. Arbenz was ousted in a CIA-backed military coup in 1954. United Fruit Company – U.S.-based food/agricultural company and largest land-owner in Guatemala in the 1950s. Large plots of arable unused land (such as those owned by UFC) were the target of Arbenz’s land reforms. Through its connections in the Eisenhower administration (Sec. of State John Foster Dulles and Cia Dir. Allen Dulles for example) UFC pressured the U.S. government to stop the so-called communist takeover in Guatemala – citing land reform and Arbenz’s close ties to the Guatemalan Communist Party. Operation PBSUCCESS – Name of the CIA-backed plan that successfully overthrew the Arbenz government in 1954. Juan Castillo Armas (1954-57) – U.S.-trained member of Guatemalan military. Armas participated in several military coups in the 1940s and 1950s. Opposed to the reforms undertaken by the Arbenz government, Armas fled to Honduras and began organizing armed opposition to the Guatemalan government. With the help of the United States, Armas helped to lead the coup that deposed the Arbenz government and became the new president. Armas was assassinated in 1957 and subsequent leaders became increasingly oppressive, prompting a growing resistance movement that eventually culminated in civil war between right-wing military forces and leftist guerrilla rebels. General Efrain Rios Montt – Retired military general asked to negotiate power conflict among ruling military junta in 1982. Montt named himself “President of the Republic” and vowed to end guerrilla rebellion once and for all – and he tried to do so at the expense of human rights. He forced a system of conscription and allowed the outright massacre of tens of thousands of civilians. Montt was overthrown after one year in office, but went on to a political career. He served as President of Congress in 1995 and 2000. Montt tried to run for president in 2003 but was defeated. He was placed under house arrest in 2004. Rigoberta Menchu – Mayan peasant woman who chronicled her plight of poverty and resistance to the Guatemalan military dictatorship in her 1983 autobiographical account, I Rigoberta Menchu. She was also the focus of the documentary When the Mountains Tremble. After publicizing her cause, Menchu went on to work with the United Nations to fight for human rights worldwide. For this, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. In 1999, anthropologist David Stoll published his own work outlining discrepancies in Menchu’s story.

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FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) – Socialist organization in El Salvador formed by a coalition of Marxist revolutionary groups in 1980 in opposition to the right-wing military dictatorship. Named after one of the founders of El Salvador’s Communist Party (who was killed in a labor uprising in 1932). The FMLN engaged in guerrilla uprisings against the government forces throughout the decade. After peace was reached in 1992 (Chapultepec Peace Accords), the FMLN became an official political party and has been active in the political system since then. School of the Americas – military training school operated by the United States (formerly in Panama; now in Georgia) to train Latin American armed forces to combat guerrilla insurgency. Reputed to specialize in training in torture and other techniques that are considered a violation of human rights. Frequently cited as a method of covert intervention used by the United States in Latin America – especially during the Cold War. Many right-wing military leaders in Central and South America (60,000 est.) have graduated from the School since its inception in 1946. In 2001, the school changed names to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Archbishop Oscar Romero (1980) – Archbishop in San Salvador who became an outspoken critic of the military regime’s violations of human rights. He was assassinated in March 1980 while saying mass. His death attracted international attention to the El Salvadoran civil war and his reputation as a patron of the poor grew even in death. Romero is currently being considered in the beatification and sainthood process in the Catholic Church. Dorothy Kazel, Ita Ford, Jean Donovan, Maura Clarke – Roman Catholic nuns/missionaries working in defense of human rights in El Salvador who were raped and murdered by members of the El Salvadoran national army in December 1980. Initial attempts to cover-up this crime brought more international attention and outcry to the situation in El Salvador. Five members of the armed forces were eventually arrested and convicted of the murders. Three were released from prison in 1998. The Massacre at El Mozote – Book written by The New Yorker journalist, Mark Danner, in 1994 based on his investigation into the 1981 slaughter of nearly 1,000 civilians in a small village in rural El Salvador. The massacre received immediate media attention, but was dismissed by many as FMLN propaganda. As part of the 1992 peace accords, a forensic team was called in to begin investigating the remains. Mark Danner originally published his account in The New Yorker, calling it a “parable of the cold war.”