Mid Theme Visit: Country Links - USA and Guatemala

 

Mid-Theme Visit: Country Links

USA and Guatemala

Welcome to another article of country links!

This time, we will view the 20th century, specifically the early stages of modern big business which dominated the western economy in the 1900s. This is due to the nature of newfound economic freedom of some countries, exploring new ways of maximising profits without being accountable to other countries – even if this exploration stretches to hurting other people from smaller countries, as we will explore…

Poor for the Picking

On that note, today we will be discussing one such example in the form of two at the time relatively new countries. These countries were developing their economic grounds, one of which was more advanced than the other.

The more advanced nation was the US, having shot into the world of urban big business through the likes of skyscrapers (as will be elaborated on in a future article). One such business which had benefitted from this industrial progress was the United Fruit Company, founded in 1899, which was profiting nicely.

However, this financial achievement was at the expense of foreign labour in Central America. Central America had not come out of decolonisation as well as the USA, and Guatemala was no exception, which is where a large amount of this labour for the United Fruit Company came from.

Not only were they poor labourers, but this had persisted for centuries as they were descendants of the Mayan indigenous population. These people had existed in the area for thousands of years before the Europeans, and had suffered since the beginning of colonialism. This hardship was still present in the 1900s, as political disadvantages persisted, which disenabled their chance to improve their situation. Regarding politics, the Guatemalan leader, Ubico, was perceived to be harsh, disallowing the likes of Mayans to move on in society. This is particularly evident as during his leadership between 1931 and 1944, the United Fruit Company Ubico endorsed, capitalised on Mayan labour, on land for harvesting.

This system is shown as massively aiding the upper class as almost three quarters of Guatemala’s available land was owned by 2% of landowners. This allowed these landowners to gain revenue through Mayans' heavy exertions.

However, when Ubico was overthrown, due to a lack of popularity, more pro lower-class leadership came in, such as in the form of Jacobo Arbenz. Arbenz was a politician who catered to the desires of the impoverished, such as in 1951, producing a policy enabling the poor to acquire available land, giving them a chance they had not had access to under Ubico, and damaging the previous system that had benefitted the United Fruit Company.

Due to this interruption, the company considered there to be a need for a change in leadership, to end these privileges towards poor people of benefitting from their own land, as was damaging US profits. This caused an overthrow in 1954 of Arbenz, as supported by the American Central Intelligence Agency, responsible for such foreign operations.

These actions at the time demonstrated a challenge to democracy, as Arbenz had been voted in in a representative election, and big business ended this. In this way, the link between the USA and Guatemala was political, as the USA forced a change in Guatemalan leadership.