Brendan Calling

Bush Pushes US Compassion Today in Guatemala

Undeterred by protesters who have dogged Bush at every stop on his five-nation Latin American trip, Bush is working to convince residents of the region that the United States is a compassionate nation.

Haha. That’s rich. I’m glad they included the word “today” in the headline, considering our history in Guatemala. Like the role of United Fruit.

The campaign succeeded and in 1954 the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency orchestrated a coup, code-named “Operation PBSUCCESS”. The invading force numbered only 150 men under the command of Castillo Armas but the CIA convinced the Guatemalan public and President Arbenz that a major invasion was underway. The CIA set up a clandestine radio station to carry propaganda, jammed all Guatemalan stations, and hired skilled American pilots to bomb strategic points in Guatemala City. The U.S. replaced the freely elected government of Guatemala with another right-wing dictatorship that would again bend to UFCO’s will.

The history of Guatemala since the Spanish conquest is one of continuous domination and repression. For a brief ten years from 1944 to 1954, Guatemala experienced the fresh air of democracy. However, with a right-wing dictatorship back in power, Guatemala was thrown back into the dark ages and the stage was set for the next 30 years of repression and killing. As part of their efforts in the coup, the CIA made a list of 70,000 “questionable individuals”. During Guatemala’s 36 year civil war that just came to an end this year (1996), the government often referred to this list originally put together by the CIA.

Or the death squads.

Or our recent history in the country:

In the course of our review, we found that several CIA assets were
credibly alleged to have ordered, planned, or participated in serious
human rights violations such as assassination, extrajudicial
execution, torture, or kidnapping while they were assets–and that
the CIA’s Directorate of Operations (DO) headquarters was aware
at the time of the allegations. A number of assets were alleged–
with varying levels of credibility–to have been involved in similar
abuses before their CIA asset relationships began

Who knows, maybe the Guatemalans don’t have long memories.

One Response to “Bush Pushes US Compassion Today in Guatemala”

1. jess wundrun Says:
   March 12th, 2007 at 11:35 pm

   brendan, are you aware that George HW Bush was an owner of United Fruit?