This is a CIA intelligence report written on October 10, 1952. It concerns Jacobo Árbenz’s personal political beliefs and the stability of his government. The source was written by an unnamed CIA source who had direct access to Árbenz. In 1952, the United Fruit Company was lobbying the U.S government to intervene in Guatemala. This CIA report was written at the same time this was happening. It contradicts the narrative that the United Fruit Company was trying to spread. The report was created by an unnamed CIA agent for the purpose of informing the U.S of their findings that Árbenz was found to not be a communist.
The document reflects the author trying to give an accurate assessment of Árbenz rather than simply confirming what his superiors might want to hear. The author clearly believes that Árbenz is a nationalist and not a communist and he pushes back against the narrative that the United Fruit Company are trying to push. The analyst concludes that he is not a communist but raises concerns about Árbenz’s willingness to work alongside communist party members to push through his reforms. This document is historically significant because it is proof that the analyst believed Árbenz wasn’t a communist, yet the United States disregarded his report and chose to believe the United Fruit Company’s assessments instead. This document is important for my project because it is one of the most powerful pieces of evidence that information control drove the decision to overthrow Árbenz.
“Although President Arbenz appears to collaborate with the Communists and extremists to the detriment of Guatemala’s relations with the US, I am quite certain that he personally does not agree with the economic and political ideas of the Guatemalan or Soviet Communists, and I am equally certain that he is not now in a position where they can force him to make decisions in their favor. The President’s social reform ideas stem from the US New Deal rather than from Soviet Communism… Rather than setting up a Communist state, Arbenz desires to establish a ‘modern democracy’ which would improve the lot of its people through paternalistic social reforms. Arbenz’ personal idol is FDR and his reforms are patterned after New Deal reforms.”
Source:
Central Intelligence Agency. “Information Report: Personal Political Orientation of President Arbenz.” October 10, 1952. In Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Guatemala, Document 27. U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54Guat/d27.