Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
als, and forward-thinking military officers orchestrated a widespread social movement cul-
minating in his overthrow in what has been dubbed “The October Revolution.” Elections
were called for in December of that same year. In a radio address, then front-running pres-
idential candidate Juan José Arévalo, an exiled professor living in Argentina, described the
transcendental nature of the recent events: “What has occurred in Guatemala is not a
golpe
de estado
(coup d'etat); it is something more profound and beneficial; it is a revolution…It
is a revolution that will go to the roots of the political system…In a word: It is a revolution
called to wash, to purify our political life, to quiet everyone, and to honor Guatemala.”
Arévalo would go on to win the election with an overwhelming majority and take office
on March 1, 1945.
Guatemala made much progress under Arévalo, who quickly set out on the road of badly
needed structural reform. Prominence was given to education and health care with the con-
struction of new schools and hospitals, immunization programs, and literacy campaigns.
A new national budget allowed for a third of government spending to go into these pro-
grams, which were further facilitated by a new constitution drafted prior to Arévalo's tak-
ing office. Ubico's hated vagrancy laws were abolished and in their place a labor code was
instituted establishing union representation and granting workers the right to strike. Many
of the farms expropriated from German planters during World War II, now in state hands,
were transformed into peasant cooperatives. Government policies provided technical as-
sistance and credit for peasant farmers and protected their lands from usurpation by agri-
cultural elites and foreign agribusiness.
The gains in social justice ruffled the feathers of many of Guatemala's traditional power
elites, including the Church, urban business elites, the landed aristocracy, and the politi-
cians who defended their interests. They increasingly opposed much of the reformist legis-
lation passed by Arévalo in congress. A divided military also became the source of much
opposition, with Arévalo surviving 25 coup attempts originating from conservative sectors
of the armed forces. Meanwhile, U.S. business interests became increasingly unsettled by
the reforms. At the top of this list was the United Fruit Company. As opposition stiffened,
Arévalo was unable to fully implement the social transformation of the country he had in-
tended and passed on to his successor an increasingly polarized political landscape.
His successor, Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, continued along the path of reform, concen-
trating on fomenting economic development and independence from foreign intervention
in politics and the economy. At the core of his economic development program was the
Agrarian Reform Law of 1952, intended to redistribute land ownership by breaking up
large plantations and promoting high productivity on smaller, individually owned farms.
Theurgentneedforlandreformwashistoricallyevidentinthenatureandfunctionofinsti-
