The Failure of ‘Liberal Developmentalism’: The United States's Anti-Communist Showcase in Guatemala, 1954–1960

Abstract

than A year after the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) toppled the nationalist regime in Guatemala of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmdn, the vice-president of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, announced to the National Security Council in March 1955 that 'the United States was now provided with an opportunity to accomplish in two years in Guatemala what the Communists had completely failed to accomplish in ten years.'1 A few months later, in July 1955, a special study mission from the US house of representatives called Guatemala 'the showcase of Latin America', and declared that, with the victory of Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas over Arbenz, Guatemala ;has become a political, social, and economic laboratory . . . The success or failure of this experiment by the first country in the world to overthrow the Communist yoke will be a major factor in determining the future course of Latin American affairs.'2 The 'showcase' metaphor invoked by Nixon and other US officials was an important component of a counter-revolution against 'Communism' that began with the resignation of Arbenz on 27 June 1954. Washington sought to establish an anti-Communist government in Guatemala that would return expropriated land to the United Fruit Company, lift trade barriers, eliminate restrictions on foreign investment, supply inexpensive strategic raw materials, realign Guatemala's foreign policy positions with those of the United States in the Organization of American States and the United Nations, and welcome US military training and assistance. US officials also hoped to blunt Guatemalan nationalism by sponsoring an economic development assistance programme that would create prosperity while promoting free trade and private investment. Thus, between 1954