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The Guatemalan Military and the Revolution of 1944
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
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Revolution in Latin America has become a sufficiently frequent occurrence to be subject to stereotypes which can cause misinterpretation. All too often an uprising is discussed in general terms, without assiduous scrutiny of the particulars, resulting in unconscious assumptions based upon stereotyped notions regarding similar movements elsewhere. The result is that important factors can be overlooked, as general principles obscure the facts and the peculiarities of the local situation. The idea that social revolution involves a confrontation between civilian reformers and military dictators has become one of the standard bromides applied to such events.
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1976
References
1 For more detailed explanations of Ubico’s platform and policies, see Grieb, Kenneth J., “American Involvement in the Rise of Jorge Ubico,” Caribbean Studies, X, 1 (April, 1970), pp. 12–13, and 14–19 Google Scholar, and Grieb, Kenneth J., “The United States and General Jorge Ubico’s Retention of Power,” Revista de Historia de America, 71 (January to June, 1971), pp. 119–126.Google Scholar
2 The cumulative effects of these programs, and their extent, are evident in the annual reports of the pertinent Ministries and the newspapers of the period. For example, El Imparcial extensively reported the construction and road building efforts, and also noted the development of new industry, particularly during the 1936 to 1941 period. The reports are far too numerous to cite specifically. The annual Memorias of the Ministries of Hacienda y Crédito Publico, Fomento, and Agricultura indicate the scope of the government’s activities and the development of the economy.
3 Schneider, Ronald M., Communism in Guatemala, 1944–1954 (New York, 1959), pp. 2–3 Google Scholar, and Alexander, Robert J., Communism in Latin America, (New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1957), p. 353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4 Numerous reports of government regulation of political activity, control of the countryside, and efficiency in suppressing revolts can be found throughout the regime’s incumbency in the pertinent decimal files of the United States State Department Papers, National Archives, RG 59. See also Schneider, , Communism in Guatemala, p. 8.Google Scholar Hereinafter State Department Papers are cited by number only.
5 This summary of the military role in the Ubico government was gleaned from the pertinent reports of the Ministry of War and the Annual Presidential Messages to Congress, particularly those of the regime’s final year in office, Mensaje que el Presidente de la Republica General Jorge Ubico dirige a la Asemblea Nacional Legislativa al abrir su periodo de sesiones ordinarias en 1944, (Guatemala, 1944), passim., and Memoria de las labores del Ejecutivo en el Ramo de Guerra durante el año administrativo de 1944, (Guatemala, 1944), passim. For the specific total of Generals, see United States Ambassador in Guatemala (Boaz Long) to Secretary of State, July 7, 1944, 814.00/7–744. The cumulative effect of promotions to loyal supporters mounted during the latter years of the regime, increasing the senior officers. For example, fifteen officers were promoted to the rank of Brigadier General during 1940 alone, and thus the surplus of Generals was a characteristic only of the 1940’s, Memoria, Guerra, 1940, p. 9.
6 Lic. Rivas, Ernesto, Private Secretary of President Ubico, explained this procedure in an interview with the author, Guatemala City, August 23, 1969.Google Scholar
7 Lic. Tejada, Guillermo Sáenz de, Minister of Gobernación in the Ubico government, to author in a personal interview, Guatemala City, July 15, 1969.Google Scholar
8 Ambassador in Guatemala (Boaz Long) to Secretary of State, July 7, 1944, 814.00/7–744, and December 16, 1944, 814.00/12–1644.
9 For diplomatic exchanges regarding the detailing of American officers to command the military academy, see a Latin American Division Memorandum by R. M. de Lambert, April 11, 1933, 814.00/111, Secretary of State (Cordell Hull) to the Guatemalan Minister of Foreign Relations (Alfredo Skinner Klée), February 5, 1934, 814.20/107, Skinner Klée to Hull, February 6, 1934, 814.20/108, and Guatemalan Minister in Washington (Adrian Recinos) to Hull, December 27, 1934, 814.20/113. Ubico’s directive was quoted by the First American Officer assigned to command the academy, Major John Considine, in a report to the Secretary of War, May 2, 1931, 814.20/83.
10 Ubico’s efforts to professionalize the army also included an updated military code, issued October 8, 1935, in the government gazette, Diario de Centro América, pp. 561–575. In an interview with a Mexican newsman during the same year, he cited improving the discipline and efficiency of the army as one of his major objectives, El Liberal Progresista, December 21, 1935. In continuation of these efforts, a School of Applied Tactics was inaugurated during 1941, El Imparcial, May 6, 1941.
11 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 21, 1944, 814.00/1464, June 23, 1944, 814.00/6–2344, and July 5, 1944, 814.00/7–544.
12 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 21, 1944, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1944 VII, The American Republics, (Washington, D.C., 1967), p. 1132, and “Heat on a Tyrant,” Time, (June 26, 1944) p. 45. Hereinafter, the Foreign Relations volume will be cited as FR 1944.
13 New York Times, June 21, 1944.
14 Galich, Manuel, Del pánico al ataque>, (Guatemala, 1949), pp. 173–174, 180–182, 191, and 225.Google Scholar
15 Ibid., pp. 261–265, and Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 23, 1944, 814.00/6–2344.
16 Galich, , Del pánico al ataque, pp. 265–301.Google Scholar
17 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 22, 1944, 814.00/1444, and June 23, 1944, 814.00/6–2344. Reports that this was the first cabinet meeting of the regime were confirmed by Lic. Guillermo Sáenz de Tejada, Minister of Gobernación in the Ubico government, in an interview with the author in Guatemala City on June 15, 1969, and also by Lic. José González Campo, Minister of Hacienda in the Ubico government, in an interview with the author in Guatemala City on July 17, 1969.
18 The decree and the government’s explanation appeared in El Imparcial, June 22 and 23, 1944. See also Schneider, , Communism in Guatemala, p. 11.Google Scholar
19 Galich, Del pànico al ataque, pp. 317–321, Morales, Baltasar, Derrocamiento de una tiranía, 3d Ed., (Guatemala, 1966), pp. 43–48 Google Scholar, and Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 23, 1944, 814.00/6–2344.
20 Panama American, June 25, 1944, New York Times, June 24 and 27, 1944, El Imparcial, July 2, 1944, Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 26, 1944, 814.00/1474, and Schneider, Communism in Guatemala, pp. 11–12.
21 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 25, 1944, 814.00/1472, and New York Times, June 27, 1944.
22 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 28, 1944, 814.00/6–2844, and New York Times, June 29 and July 1, 1944.
23 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 25, 1944, 814.00/1472, and /1469, and June 26, 1944, 814.00/1474; El Nacional (Mexico), June 27 and 28, 1944; and New York Times, June 27, 1944.
24 Morales, , Derrocamiento de una tiranía, pp. 82–92.Google Scholar
25 Ibid., pp. 92–93, and Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 27, 1944, 814.00/6–2344.
26 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 25, 1944, FR 1944, VII, p. 1133.
27 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 30, 1944, 814.00/6–3044, and July 1, 1944, 814.00/7–144.
28 Lic. Rivas, Ernesto, Private Secretary to General Ubico, to author in a personal interview, Guatemala City, August 23, 1969.Google Scholar
29 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 30, 1944, 814.00/6–3044.
30 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 30, 1944, 814.00/6–3044 (two dispatches with the same number.)
31 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, June 30, 1944, 814.00/6–3044.
32 The entire narrative of the resignation was provided by Lic. Rivas, Ernesto, Ubico’s Private Secretary, in a personal interview with the author, Guatemala City, August 23, 1969.Google Scholar
33 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 1, 1944, 814.00/7–144; El Nacional (Mexico), July 2, 1944, and Panama American, July 1 and 2, 1944.
34 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 1, 1944, 814.00/7–144, July 3, 1944, 814.00/7–344, and July 4, 1944, FR 1944, VII, pp. 1134–1136; La Estrella de Panamá, July 2, 1944, and New York Times, July 3, 1944.
35 El Imparcial, July 2, 3, and 4, 1944, and Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 5, 1944, 814.00/7–544.
36 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 4, 1944, 814.00/7–444, and July 5, 1944, 814.00/7–544, El Imparcial, July 4, 1944, and Mejía, Medardo, El movimiento obrero en la Revolución de Octubre, (Guatemala, 1949), pp. 74–75.Google Scholar
37 Lic. Rivas, Ernesto to author in a personal interview, Guatemala City, August 23, 1969.Google Scholar
38 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 4, 1944, 814.00/7–444, and July 7, 1944, 814.00/7–744 (two dispatches with the same number.)
39 El Imparcial, July 4, 1944. Commenting on these charges, and the resultant counter charges, the ambassador opined: “Both of these points of view may be open to discussion,” Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 7, 1944, 814.00/7–744.
40 The visitors to Ubico’s residence were reported in Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 4, 1944, 814.00/7–444, July 5, 1944, 814.00/7–544, and July 14, 1944, 814.00/7–1444 (two dispatches with the same number). The story of Ubico’s initial refusal to receive guests was related by Lic. Ernesto Rivas in a personal interview with the author, Guatemala City, August 23, 1969. Rivas explained that he and the other holdover members of the Ubico regime would have “preferred to resign,” and stayed on only on a “temporary basis” at Ponce’s insistence.
41 Throughout July, 1944, El Imparcial printed numerous such articles.
42 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 12, 1944, 814.00/7–1244.
43 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 21, 1944, 814.00/7–2144.
44 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 14, 1944, 814.00/7–1444, August 21, 1944, 814.00/8–2144, August 25, 1944, 814.00/8–2544, and September 1, 1944, 814.00/9–144.
45 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 14, 1944, 814.00/7–1444, United States chargé in Buenos Aires (Edward L. Reed) to Secretary of State, August 19, 1944, 814.00/8–1944; unsigned memorandum from Embassy in Guatemala in State Department files, August 21, 1944, 814.00/8–2344, Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, September 1, 1944, 814.00/9–144.
46 Arévalo’s “declaration of principles,” is enclosed in United States chargé in Buenos Aires to Secretary of State, August 19, 1944, 814.00/8–1944. His most important statements prior to assuming office are contained in José, Juan; Arévalo, , Escritos políticos, 2d Ed., (Guatemala, 1946), passim., with the essay on “Nazismo europeo y nazismo criollo,” on pp. 75–78 Google Scholar, and references to “spiritual socialism” on pp. 148–149, 162–164, and 186–188. See also Schneider, Communism in Guatemala, pp. 16–18.
47 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 14, 1944, 814.00/7–1444, and July 21, 1944, 814.00/7–2144, and Mejía, El movimiento obrero, p. 81.
48 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 25, 1944, 814.00/7–2544, August 15, 1944, 814.00/8–1544, and August 21, 1944, 814.00/8 2144.
49 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, July 14, 1944, 814.00/7–1444, and August 15, 814.00/8–1544.
50 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, August 23, 1944, 814.00/8–2344.
51 Newspapers began to comment on Ponce’s apparent intentions during September, Diario de Guatemala, September 11, 12, 13, 16, and 18, 1944. Long filed similar reports, Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, September 12, 1944, 814.00/9–1244, September 19, 1944, 814.00/9–1944, and September 29, 1944, 814.00/9–2944.
52 United States chargé in Guatemala to (William C. Affeld Jr.) to Secretary of State, October 13, 1944, 814.00/10–1344.
53 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, September 22, 1944, 814.00/9–2244, September 25, 1944, 814.00/9–2544, and September 29, 1944, 814.00/9–2944.
54 Lic. Vela, David, Editor of El Imparcial and Assistant to Córdova who assumed the editorship upon the death of his chief, to author in a personal interview, Guatemala City, July 14, 1969; Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, October 1, 1944, 814.00/10–144, and October 2, 1944, 814.00/10–244; New York Times, October 3, 1944; and Schneider, Communism in Guatemala, pp. 13–14.Google Scholar
55 Lic. Vela, David to author in a personal interview, Guatemala City, July 14, 1969.Google Scholar
56 New York Times, October 11, 1944, and Unsigned memorandum in State Department files, October 13, 1944, 814.00/10–1344.
57 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, October 6, 1944, 814.00/10–644.
58 Chargé in Guatemala to Secretary of State, October 17, 1944, FR 1944, VII, pp. 1140–1141; and Chinchilla, Carlos Samayoa, El quetzal no es rojo, (Guatemala, 1956), pp. 86–87.Google Scholar
59 Mejía, , El movimiento obrero, p. 86 Google Scholar, and Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, December 16, 1944, 814.00/12–1644.
60 Mejía, , El movimiento obrero, pp. 86–88 Google Scholar, quoting an article “Por que actuó el Ejército?”, from the Revista Militar, originally published in February, 1945. See also Arévalo, , Escritos políticos, indicating various statements by Arévalo on the military and its role in the government, indicating his appeal to the younger officers, eg. pp. 21, 82, 86–87, 154–155, and 183–184.Google Scholar
61 Chargé in Guatemala to Secretary of State, October 17, 1944, 814.00/10–1744, and October 18, 1944, 814.00/10–1844.
62 For accounts of the combat and leaders, Chargé in Guatemala to Secretary of State, October 20, 1944, 814.00/10–2044 (two dispatches with the same number); Memorandum of a telephone conversation between the Chargé and the Assistant Chief of the Division of American Republics (John M. Cabot), October 21, 1944, 814.00/10–2144; Panama American, October 21, 1944; and Mejía, El movimiento obrero, p. 88. Arbenz’ standing with the cadets was described to the author by Rafael Castro Silva, the son of the Costa Rican Minister to Guatemala, who himself had been a cadet at the Guatemalan Escuela Politéchnica, in an interview in San José, Costa Rica, August 14, 1969.
63 United States Ambassador in Honduras (John D. Erwin) to Secretary of State, October 20, 1944, 814.00/10–2044, Chargé in Guatemala to Secretary of State, October 23, 1944, 814.00/10–2344, and “Revolution,” Time, October 30, 1944, p. 38.
64 Chargé in Guatemala to Secretary of State, October 26, 1944, 814.00/10–2644 (two dispatches with the same number); Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, November 3, 1944, 814.00/11–344, November 7, 1944, 814.00/11–744, and December 16, 1944, 814.00/12–1644; Schneider, Communism in Guatemala, p. 15; and Alexander, , Communism in Latin America, p. 354.Google Scholar
65 Panama American, October 30, 1944. Several counterrevolutionary attempts were reported, principally occurring in rural Indian areas, Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, October 31, 1944, 814.00/10–3144.
66 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, November 7, 1944, 814.00/11–744, December 20, 1944, FR 1944, VII, p. 1152, and December 21, 1944, 814.00/12–2144.
67 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, November 29, 1944, 814.00/11–2944, and November 30, 1944, 814.00/11–3044.
68 Ambassador in Guatemala to Secretary of State, December 14, 1944, 814.00/12–1444, and Aragón, Luis Cardoza y, La Revolución Guatemalteca, (Mexico, 1955), p. 48.Google Scholar
69 Arévalo, Juan José, Discursos en la Presidencia, (Guatemala, 1947), contains numerous examples, such as pp. 19, 21–22, 25, 49–51, 78, 110, and 118–120.Google Scholar
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