Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tionalRailwaysofCentralAmerica(IRCA)andtheUFCoSteamshipLines.Itsvastcontrol
of land, rail, and steamship transportation, in addition to Guatemala's sole Caribbean port,
Puerto Barrios, made it a political and economic powerhouse. Its political clout would be
seen in the mid-20th century when, together with the CIA, it would be directly responsible
for ousting Guatemala's president, Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, from power when land reform
policies interfered with the company's vast land holdings.
After the overthrow of Estrada Cabrera in 1920 the country entered a period of instability
andpowerstrugglesculminatingintherisetopowerofJorgeUbico.Continuinginthenow
well-established pattern of megalomaniacal, heavy-handed leadership that would come to
characterize many of Guatemala's presidents, Ubico continued the unconditional support
for U.S. agribusiness and the local oligarchy. By 1940, 90 percent of Guatemala's exports
were sold to the United States. Ubico caved in to U.S demands for the expulsion of the
German coffee planters from Guatemala during World War II, evidencing the increasing
U.S. hold on Guatemalan domestic policy.
WithinGuatemala,Ubicoembarkedonvariousreforms,includingambitiousroad-build-
ing projects, as well as improvements in health care and social welfare. Debt peonage was
also outlawed but was replaced by a vagrancy law enforcing compulsory labor contribu-
tions of 150 days upon landless peasants in either rural plantations or in the government
road-buildingprograms.Ubico'sreformsalwayshadinmindthemodernizationofthestate
economy.Farfromanattempttofreetheindigenouspeoplesfromcoercivelaborpractices,
the vagrancy law asserted centralized control over the national labor force while keeping
the political power of the oligarchy firmly in check.
Ubico was also obsessed with internal security. He saw himself as a reincarnated Napo-
leon and became increasingly paranoid, creating a network of spies and informers used to
repress opposition to his increasingly tyrannical rule. Much of this opposition came from
the indigenous peasant population, whom Ubico ignored and regarded as retrograde and
inferior. This led to numerous revolts in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The discovery of
an assassination plot in 1934 led to the execution of 300 suspected conspirators within 48
hours.
Opposition finally reached a head in June 1944 when widespread discontent erupted in vi-
olent street protests by large portions of the urban middle class demanding democratic op-
portunities and new economic policies. Ubico was forced to resign after 14 years in office.
Whenhisinterimreplacementsignaledtobemoreofthesame,youngstudents,profession-
