It Started in Guatemala…a bleak future in Iraq?

Since 1954, there has been a decline in the vision of America as a liberator of nations and people as they were known for in the Second World War and the Korean Conflict and their anti-colonial position after 1945.  Since 1954, the realization that US Foreign Policy could do more harm than good was defined in Guatemala where the CIA helped oust democratically elected leader Jacobo Arbenz in a coup and installed a military leader Colonel Armas on behalf of the United Fruit Company. United Fruit feared that land reforms by Arbenz would lead to expropriations by the government and hurt United Fruit who owned the majority of Guatemala's rural farm production and was one of the top banana producers worldwide at the time. The CIA actively aided United Fruit by overthrowing the government and labelling Arbenz and communist and using force to remove Arbenz from power. It resulted in decades of human rights abuses and dictatorships in Guatemala and still produces much conflict today in Guatemala with the Chiquita company, the altered name of United Fruit Co.

While the US has assisted greatly in places like Korea, Japan and Bosnia in the last fifty years, the interference by US Foreign Policy in places where the objective was unclear or stability of government to achieve an economic or political objective took precedent over natural power trends and democratic movements in the country often resulted in disasters inside the US and abroad.

Unclear objectives were part of the conflict in Vietnam and were inherited by the War in Iraq and subsequent civil war that has commenced in what is currently the most dangerous place in the world. It was finally admitted this week that the Iraqi Government will likely not be able to manage the future situation in the country, and unlike in Vietnam where Saigon was taken by the communist forces, Iraq has nothing but splinter groups who will push the country further into anarchy.

Stability of governments to meet an objective was also a strong motivation for US involvement. While in cases such as Bosnia where the objective was clear and noble, other cases such as those in Latin America often produced hundreds of thousands of refugees as well as one party states to ensure stability in the region. The trend and methods in the Guatemalan case spread most notably in Chile in 1973 where Agusto Pinochet was able to murder his democratically elected opposition with CIA aid and ensure his dictatorship until the late 1990s. The 80s saw more bloodshed with support for traditional leaders in Nicaragua and El Salvador who are still suffering from effects of the conflict to date.

Until Iraq, the activities of the US were seen as becoming more as a policing duty as in the Balkans as opposed to producing coups like in Guatemala and Chile. In the 90s, Colombia and the War on Drugs brought US aid to the conflict, albeit more debatable in its result as FARC and other groups often do not represent the people of Colombia, but took to kidnapping western oil workers in the region and contributed to hurting locals in Colombia which have suffered greatly from instability over more than two decades. While the US was not the aggressor in many cases in the Andean region, companies were seen to abuse their position in developing regions but without direct US support for the companies, but only military aid to democratically elected Colombian government officials. These conflicts continue to plague Colombia to this day.

In the end despite moral and immoral activities by the US, the result for many errors in US foreign policy has been a reflection of the errors committed in Guatemala in 1954. Millions of refugees have fled Iraq, Colombia, Vietnam, Chile, Central America and Guatemala of course due to poor decisions and sometimes active punishment of those in opposition. Many of these individuals live in your communities today, and are a reflection of why choosing leaders and their decisions do make a difference to the health of communities worldwide.

Please refer to Kyle de Beausset's articles on the Chiquita Bananna Boycott and his article on Illegal Aliens and Guatemala.

  Jacobo Arbenz: Elected Leader or Communist? The Media Decides…