WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:12.199 Honduras June fifteenth, nineteen fifty four. A small army of 2 00:00:12.199 --> 00:00:15.279 approximately two hundred men is stationed at the Guatemalan border. 3 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:19.440 For weeks, they have patiently waited for the CIA to 4 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:24.399 greenlight the last phase of operations success. But Carlos Castillo 5 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:30.719 Armas has been waiting much, much longer. Since nineteen forty nine, 6 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:34.840 He's been plotting his revenge while his lust for power grows. 7 00:00:36.359 --> 00:00:40.640 Despite being described by many as an unimposing man, his 8 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:45.200 unlikely comeback is remarkable, though only made possible by overwhelming 9 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:52.719 outside forces. Liberator, puppet, dictator, oppressor, pick any name you 10 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:57.240 like to Armas, they mean nothing. He knows it's a miracle. 11 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:00.600 He's even alive. He should have died during coup attempt 12 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:03.759 five years ago. Now Here, at the age of thirty nine, 13 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:06.480 he has lived through more hell than many of us 14 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:11.359 will ever endure. This is the end of the line 15 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:14.840 for him, his last opportunity to seize power. One way 16 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:20.560 or another, he will succeed in his quest, his hunger sated, 17 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:24.000 only to be assassinated by one of his presidential guards 18 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:40.120 three years after taking office. This is fru Data, the 19 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:44.159 unbelievable story of the nineteen fifty four, CIA sponsored Guatemalan 20 00:01:44.239 --> 00:02:02.560 COUD Episode four operations success. The CIA knew that to 21 00:02:02.599 --> 00:02:06.120 turn Guatemalans against their leader, they would need to provide 22 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:09.479 a domestic alternative, someone they could prop up as a 23 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:14.240 man of the people, a liberator. United Fruit had a 24 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:17.199 name in mind. After all, it had to be someone 25 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:21.159 they could work with. The front runner in this odd, 26 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:26.039 undemocratic primary process was Miguel Idigores Fuentes. He'd been an 27 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:29.520 army general under Ubigo's dictatorship until a Revlo was elected 28 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:32.879 in nineteen forty five. He later ran for office in 29 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:38.360 nineteen fifty and lost the election to Arbanz. Since then, 30 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:41.159 he'd moved to El Salvador, where he was extremely vocal 31 00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:46.919 about the elections being stolen from him, a totally unsubstantiated claim. 32 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:52.039 Much like Ubigo, he would have become a corrupt fascist dictator. However, 33 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:56.080 unlike his former boss, Fuentes was not an easy man 34 00:02:56.120 --> 00:02:59.240 to work with. He wasn't willing to play ball or 35 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:02.800 blindly accept orders from a foreign government. On top of that, 36 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:10.439 he was considered a reputational liability. Rachel Nolan is a journalist, historian, 37 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:14.319 and professor. She's the author of Until I Find You, 38 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:25.120 Disappeared Children and coercive adoptions in Guatemala. 39 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:24.199 When this was famously brutal. In fact, one of the 40 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:29.159 reasons that the CIA rejected him as an original candidate 41 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:32.800 for the role of dictator Guatemala is that he was 42 00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:37.400 unpopular after having overseen massacres of indigenous people. The CIA 43 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:41.000 was making calculations in nineteen fifty four about who are our. 44 00:03:40.919 --> 00:03:42.000 Allies in Guatemala. 45 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.919 They had in mind certain oligarchic figures within the country. 46 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:46.879 They were saying, well, he's not very liked. They were 47 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:51.000 almost trying to hand pick the successor to Urban's by saying, 48 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:53.520 who has a following, who is a credible. 49 00:03:54.599 --> 00:03:56.680 Leader, who might look like a popular leader. 50 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.080 Because they were fooling themselves that people wouldn't know it 51 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:01.879 would be that it was was THEIA. 52 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:06.680 The United Fruit Company pitched a second man, Juan Cordova Serna, 53 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:09.960 who was already on the company's payroll as a legal advisor, 54 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:14.800 talk about a promotion. Unfortunately, just before they could reach 55 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:19.279 an agreement, he was hospitalized with throat cancer, most likely 56 00:04:19.319 --> 00:04:23.639 courtesy of those cigarettes Edward Burnet's had so successfully advertised. 57 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:28.319 In the end, it all came down to Colonel Carlos 58 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:33.480 Castillo Armas, a remarkably unremarkable man whose military background would 59 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:38.920 help lend credence to the uprising narrative. Armas had actually 60 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.800 been a member of Arabelo's cabinet until nineteen forty nine, 61 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:46.839 when he quit. After the assassination of Francisco Arana. In 62 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:51.319 nineteen fifty, he attempted a coup which failed miserably. He 63 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:55.639 was shot, wounded, and left for dead. He was only 64 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:58.480 saved because someone heard him moan and rushed him to 65 00:04:58.519 --> 00:05:04.720 the hospital. Ironically, after being saved, he was sentenced to death. 66 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:10.399 Luckily for him, just before his scheduled execution, he managed 67 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:15.319 to escape, some say through bribery, others through a tunnel. 68 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:18.480 From there, he spent a few years working odd jobs 69 00:05:18.519 --> 00:05:22.519 in Colombia and Honduras. At some point he was reportedly 70 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:25.399 working as a furniture salesman, biding his time for the 71 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:30.079 opportunity to strike back. This opportunity finally came when he 72 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:33.879 was hand picked to become the next leader of Guatemala, 73 00:05:34.360 --> 00:05:35.079 Rachel Nolan. 74 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:38.959 Again, Castillo Armas was a weak little guy. Even the 75 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:44.759 CIA reports about finding a leader a kind of what 76 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:47.600 you would call an AstroTurf leader rather than a grassroots leader, 77 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:49.879 someone who looks to be grassroots or looks to be 78 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:52.399 a popular leader of a counter revolution in Guatemala, but 79 00:05:52.439 --> 00:05:55.639 is actually directed by the CIA. At first, the CIA, 80 00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:58.639 who are literally trying to cast people. I mean they 81 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:00.720 are thinking, will this guy do well? That guy do 82 00:06:00.839 --> 00:06:03.959 They're going through different names, and they pass over Castio 83 00:06:03.959 --> 00:06:06.560 Aaramas because he's too unimpressive. He's been drinking in New 84 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:10.120 Orleans for the last decade. He's been outside of the country, 85 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:13.519 genuinely attempting on his own to martial account of revolution 86 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:15.560 and invade. I mean, he saw himself as a potential 87 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:17.879 future leader of Guatemala, but no one took him all 88 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:21.560 that seriously. Idiodes Fuantes was taller. I mean, it sounds ridiculous, 89 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:23.399 but the CIA loves this kind of thing. It's like 90 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:26.439 central casting. He was whiter. There was a long discussion 91 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:29.040 about Cristio Aaramas that he had darker skin and so 92 00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:32.800 would he really be seen as a Caliola like potential leader. 93 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:34.480 I mean, these were the racist terms in which it 94 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:36.839 was discussed. But the appearance was important. That was part 95 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:39.959 of the thing to try to make the coup look real. 96 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:44.560 So Costiotamas was an incredibly unimpressive man. Actually, he seemed 97 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:46.680 to be what he was, which was someone who would 98 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:47.480 never have been there. 99 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:49.600 He would never have been in charge. 100 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:54.399 Of Guatemala it were not for the push from the CIA. 101 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:58.199 Meanwhile, back in the States, United Fruit was arranging another 102 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:02.040 large delivery of weapons to Central America, easy enough given 103 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:04.639 their experience in the field, not to mention the fact 104 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:07.519 that they owned more ships than most countries, as well 105 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:10.639 as a few railroads and in an active gallantry. The 106 00:07:10.759 --> 00:07:14.680 CIA had agreed to finance the entire operation with about 107 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:18.639 three million in taxpayer dollars equivalent to thirty four million today. 108 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:23.439 Once again, the plan was an open secret. In January 109 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:26.879 of nineteen fifty four, Elite resulted in the Guatemalan press 110 00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:31.839 publishing correspondence between Castillo Attomas Idigoras Fuentes and the Samosa 111 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:36.199 family of Nicaragua. These reports also exposed to the involvement 112 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:41.120 of Venezuela El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and the government 113 00:07:41.319 --> 00:07:46.720 of the North. Certainly it wasn't Canada, but the international 114 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:50.839 press did not pick up the story, which went largely unnoticed. 115 00:07:52.199 --> 00:07:55.279 It was yet another confirmation that overthrowing Autoban's was fair 116 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:02.240 game and no one would interfere. Finally, it was showtime. 117 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:14.360 The American embassy in Guatemala City was equipped with an 118 00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:18.639 array of communication devices capable of jamming official broadcasts as 119 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:23.279 well as airing clandestine ones. The setup allowed Americans to 120 00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:29.040 disguise their programs as legitimate national radio frequencies. Equipping an 121 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:32.320 embassy with instruments of war was a major violation of 122 00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:36.399 international law even in the wild fifties. The embassy even 123 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:39.360 set up an outdoor sound system that played convincing recordings 124 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:42.080 of planes flying over the city to make people believe 125 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:47.559 they were under attack. The ambassador himself, John Purifoy, was 126 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:52.320 given cash to personally bribe potential military defectors and politicians. 127 00:08:53.399 --> 00:08:56.639 It was a brazen lack of discretion, one you'd expect 128 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:01.320 from the Eisenhower Nixon administration. In fact, Eurofoy publicly stated 129 00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:04.080 to The Times in January of nineteen fifty four that 130 00:09:04.360 --> 00:09:07.399 quote public opinion in the US might force us to 131 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:10.440 take some measures to prevent Guatemala from falling into the 132 00:09:10.519 --> 00:09:17.559 lap of communism end quote. Joseph Whipple is a professor 133 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:21.320 and former CIA operations officer. He served as the deputy 134 00:09:21.399 --> 00:09:24.440 chief of the CIA office in Guatemala City from nineteen 135 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:26.279 eighty four to nineteen eighty six. 136 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:32.279 This is nine years after World War Two, right, things 137 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:36.679 happening in Europe, happening in Asia, and also there's still 138 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:40.080 kind of an aura of the Monroe doctrine. This is 139 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:41.840 an area of the world where we're not going to 140 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:45.200 have any foreign influences. The US is the top dog 141 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:48.960 in this area. That's also a factor that took place 142 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:51.759 in nineteen fifty four, even into the bay At pace, 143 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:53.159 you know, and so on. 144 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:58.840 At that point, Autoban's was fully aware that his days 145 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:03.840 as president were not His small, under equipped army didn't 146 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:06.200 have the means to fend off an attack sponsored by 147 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:09.279 the most powerful country in the world. The nineteen forty 148 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:11.879 eight US ban on the sale of weapons to Guatemala 149 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:16.919 had made the military even weaker than it already was. Eventually, 150 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:21.799 Ottomans was forced to make one crucial, unavoidable mistake. Unable 151 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:24.960 to purchase weapons from the Western world, he had to 152 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:31.480 look elsewhere. On the morning of May fifteenth, nineteen fifty four, 153 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:35.960 a strange event took place in Puerto Barrios the entire 154 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:39.039 city had been closed to visitors, and the Minister of 155 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:42.240 Defense was roaming the docks with a handful of military officials. 156 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:48.399 A Swedish freighter was being hastily uploaded. Its cargo, registered 157 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:51.960 as lab equipment, was really a shipment of weapons and 158 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:57.480 ammunition from Soviet Czechoslovakia after almost six years of de 159 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:00.879 facto embargo. The shipment was not only way to supply 160 00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:05.639 the military before Castillo Atomos's highly anticipated invasion, it was 161 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:08.200 also a way to provide hunters and fishermen with the 162 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:12.799 low caliber AMMO they needed for work. The CIA knew 163 00:11:12.840 --> 00:11:15.840 about the shipment, which they'd been monitoring since before it 164 00:11:15.879 --> 00:11:19.200 even left Europe. They hadn't stopped it because it supported 165 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:22.879 their narrative of Guatemala being in cahoots with the Soviet Union. 166 00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:27.000 It quite literally provided them with a smoking gun proof 167 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:31.360 of Communist ties. Had this not happened, the CIA had 168 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:35.320 already devised its own plan to smuggle Soviet weapons into Guatemala, 169 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:39.240 planting them with the help of the Nicaraguan government. Arban's 170 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:43.039 just saved them the trouble. Joseph Whipple again. 171 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:46.559 Arbuns himself. I mean, you know, looking back at it, 172 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:50.399 he made some big mistakes. I've often thought that the 173 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:55.320 fact that he nationalized the United Fruit Company is a 174 00:11:55.320 --> 00:12:01.840 little bit overemphasized as a reason for American dissatisfaction with him, 175 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:04.879 although probably it was a part of it. But you know, 176 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:10.639 buying weapons from Czechoslovakia and so on was foolhardy, certainly 177 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:13.080 on his part. 178 00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:22.559 Without skipping a beat, the agency immediately secured more funding 179 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:25.679 from the Eisenhower administration and set a date for the invasion. 180 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:30.559 Even before that, Just days after the shipment, an American 181 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:33.519 led commando unit took the liberty of launching a full 182 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:36.679 scale attack on the train carrying the Czech weapons from 183 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:40.879 Puerto Barrios to Guatemala City. Their initial plan was to 184 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:44.840 blow up the railroad, but heavy rains stopped the explosives 185 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:48.399 from detonating. The American troops had no other choice but 186 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:52.960 to open fire on the convoay. The resulting gunfight claimed 187 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:55.679 the lives of one soldier on each side and left 188 00:12:55.879 --> 00:12:59.360 many more injured. The train, on the other hand, was 189 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:03.720 unscathed and went on to reach its destination. Its cargo 190 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:08.240 proved mostly inconsequential for the Guatemalan army. As it turned out, 191 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:13.840 it mainly consisted of unusable, outdated World War II leftovers. 192 00:13:14.759 --> 00:13:18.039 The US felt emboldened to respond by providing the Liberation 193 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:22.360 Army with plenty of weaponry. They even dispatched two submarines 194 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:28.759 and three aircraft capable of carrying the atomic bomb. With 195 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:32.360 the invasions set for June nineteen fifty four, things were 196 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:35.120 starting to ramp up. Rachel Nolan. 197 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:39.879 There were airplanes used that were only available to US 198 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:43.360 military or CIA forces. I mean, if they had been 199 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:47.200 more careful, they would have used only hardware or equipment 200 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:49.840 that was recognizably Guatemalan. 201 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:50.080 You know. 202 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:52.360 So Vicier didn't really take. 203 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:54.879 Care to cover its tracks particularly, which is something that 204 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:55.679 confuses me. 205 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:01.720 Jukobo Atobans was feeling the pressure. Cabinet called countless frantic 206 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:06.720 meetings with American officials, offering to renegotiate United Fruits Land compensation, 207 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:11.440 but to no avail. On the ground. The propaganda campaign, 208 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:14.759 orchestrated by E. Howard Hunt and David ATTLEE. Phillips, was 209 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:19.559 bearing fruit. Thousands of flyers and posters were distributed all 210 00:14:19.559 --> 00:14:25.120 over Central America. They framed Guatemala as a communist stronghold 211 00:14:25.240 --> 00:14:29.039 that desperately needed to be liberated and castillouaramas As the 212 00:14:29.080 --> 00:14:33.320 only man for the job. Movies were made and hundreds 213 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:36.720 of hours of radio broadcasts were aired, all to spread 214 00:14:36.759 --> 00:14:41.000 the American narrative. They aired all over, even as far 215 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:45.279 as Cuba. It was a different time, but the most 216 00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:49.440 valuable propaganda was broadcast from inside Guatemala by a clandestine 217 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:57.559 radio station called Radio Librecion, a cunning bit of psychological 218 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:01.440 warfare to spread fear and disinformation. Every day, the station 219 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:05.200 updated fellow Guatemalans on the progress made by Castillo Armas's 220 00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:08.399 liberation Army and urged them to join the movement to 221 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:14.639 oust the communist dictatorship. In reality, Automas's ragtag army of 222 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:17.840 mercenaries was numbered in the hundreds and it had yet 223 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:21.639 to cross the border into the country. Stephen Kinser is 224 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:25.080 a journalist, writer, and professor. He's the co author of 225 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:28.960 Bitter Fruit, The untold story of the American Coup in Guatemala. 226 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:33.879 The American operation to overthrow the Government of Guatemala PB's 227 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:40.840 success was almost entirely psychological. It was not military, it 228 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:47.039 was not political. The so called liberation army was just 229 00:15:47.159 --> 00:15:51.480 a bunch of guys with minimal armaments. So never had 230 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:55.600 any intention of fighting and never did fight. The CIA 231 00:15:55.759 --> 00:16:03.799 had constructed this psychological project. It involved making Guatemalans believe 232 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:08.360 that there had been a rebellion within the Guatemalan military. 233 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:14.039 So what they did was, for example, paint a few 234 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:20.440 planes with the insignia of the Guatemalan Air Force, then 235 00:16:20.519 --> 00:16:25.120 issue proclamations that would be broadcast on a so called 236 00:16:25.320 --> 00:16:30.159 rebel radio, which was actually run by the CIA, saying 237 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:34.679 that the pilots of these planes had rebelled against Urbans 238 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:40.240 and they were fighting for freedom. Meanwhile, these planes would 239 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:45.840 drop bombs strategically in places that would be particularly embarrassing 240 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:50.279 for the regime, like inside the main military academy. It 241 00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:55.360 definitely became clear to the generals that the United States 242 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:59.720 was behind this and it wasn't going to stop until 243 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:05.279 Arbnz was out of office. So there were no military 244 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:09.160 confrontations of any significance. It was a matter of putting 245 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:15.599 enough pressure on the generals preventing Arbenz from reacting, rather 246 00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:20.559 than giving him a military challenge that the army would have. 247 00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:21.119 Had to face. 248 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:27.359 It wasn't until June eighteenth, nineteen fifty four that the 249 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:32.559 Liberation Army of Castiuantomas finally entered Guatemala through Honduras. He 250 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:35.519 personally led a small group of fewer than two hundred men, 251 00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:39.319 but his overall forces were closer to five hundred. They 252 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:43.799 were an ensemble of Guatemalan exiles, Central American mercenaries, and 253 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:47.319 even a few Americans, all divided to avoid direct conflict 254 00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:51.759 with the Guatemalan army. They were few but well armed. 255 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:55.920 The CIA had supplied them with plenty of weapons and ammunition. 256 00:17:56.839 --> 00:17:59.359 In addition to that, they had the benefit of a 257 00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:05.079 fast work of infrastructure provided by UFC, including several outposts, railroads, 258 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:09.799 and even the national telecommunications network. The liberator advanced a 259 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:12.839 wapping six miles into the country before receiving orders to 260 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:17.279 halt and await further instructions. The CIA was determined to 261 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:20.640 make this a bloodless coup. The operation had been over 262 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:25.519 engineered for exactly that reason. That same morning, a C 263 00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:29.680 forty seven aircraft flew over Guatemala City. It dropped leaflets 264 00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:33.440 demanding Arbenz's resignation and threatening to bomb the capitol. It 265 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:36.799 was one of several American led airborne operations, including the 266 00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:39.720 bombing of fuel tanks in Puerto Barrios which further maimed 267 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:45.440 the government's already scarce resources. Arbenz had no intention of surrendering. 268 00:18:45.799 --> 00:18:48.559 He was fully aware of the CIA and United Fruits 269 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:50.960 scare tactics and knew very well that there was no 270 00:18:51.079 --> 00:18:54.160 such thing as an army of rebels. He was going 271 00:18:54.200 --> 00:18:56.920 to take his chances and see how far the Americans 272 00:18:57.039 --> 00:18:57.839 were willing to go. 273 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:04.160 Rachel Nolan, the propaganda was directed mostly toward the capital, 274 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:09.480 and it's sort of impossible to know what your average 275 00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:12.480 Guatemalan on the street thought as the coup was unfolding. 276 00:19:12.519 --> 00:19:14.279 That's kind of a mystery, right, Like, for how long 277 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:16.680 did people think of as a real uprising, although the 278 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:19.559 newspaper coverage even pretty soon after the event shows that 279 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:22.480 it was general knowledge that it was a US backed 280 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:26.119 coup fairly quickly. If you ask what the average Guatemalan 281 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:28.880 in the country thought, or you mentioned in more rural 282 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:31.920 areas outside of the capital, even if they weren't up 283 00:19:31.960 --> 00:19:34.519 to date on all of the details of who was 284 00:19:34.599 --> 00:19:38.839 behind the overthrow, it affected their daily life in an 285 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:42.400 extreme way. They could have gone from being day laborers 286 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:45.359 who were indebted to the owner of the farm to 287 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:47.960 owning their own plot of land and they were stripped 288 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:49.319 of that possibility once again. 289 00:19:52.920 --> 00:19:55.640 In a matter of days, the Americans lost three of 290 00:19:55.640 --> 00:19:59.000 their aircraft. Two of them were caught in crossfire and 291 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:01.400 had to be grounded. The other simply ran out of 292 00:20:01.400 --> 00:20:06.440 fuel and crashed near the Mexican border. The Guatemalan government 293 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:10.319 practically had no functioning military aircraft. If the US wanted 294 00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:13.839 to maintain plausible deniability and continue to push the narrative 295 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:17.599 of a domestic uprising, the CIA could not afford to 296 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:22.119 leave wrecks of American planes in the country. Meanwhile, on 297 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:25.440 the ground, Castillou Attamas and his few hundred mercenaries were 298 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:31.160 also failing spectacularly. The Guatemalan armies somehow managed to fend 299 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:34.000 off their attacks on the cities of Puerto Barrios and Zacappa. 300 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:38.880 Faced with the prospect of a farcical failure, the CIA 301 00:20:39.079 --> 00:20:41.839 begged the State Department for more airplanes, a flea that 302 00:20:42.039 --> 00:20:45.000 was rejected so as not to expose American involvement in 303 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:49.640 the country. With confidence in Castillo Atamas waning, the CIA 304 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:52.240 felt it was time to take measures into their own hands, 305 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:54.680 and decided to use the oldest play in the book, 306 00:20:55.960 --> 00:21:05.319 a false flag operation. A false flag operation is an 307 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:10.039 act committed with the intent of blaming another party. To oversimplify, 308 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:13.799 the idea is to attack your own people or territory 309 00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:17.400 and then blame the enemy to have an excuse to retaliate. 310 00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:22.599 Notable examples include reportedly Julius Caesar staging an attack to 311 00:21:22.759 --> 00:21:27.279 justify his invasion of Gaul, the Germans killing prisoners dressed 312 00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:31.079 as Nazis, then blaming Polish soldiers to invade Poland in 313 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:35.000 nineteen thirty nine, the Soviet Union shelling the village of 314 00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:37.880 Manila on the border with Finland as an excuse to 315 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:41.240 invade Finland also in nineteen thirty nine, and a great 316 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:45.440 number of other confirmed or suspected operations throughout history, some 317 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:49.920 more controversial than others. This time around, an American pilot 318 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:52.359 was hastily instructed to use one of the few remaining 319 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:56.720 plans to bomb the Honduran border. Honduras would then claim 320 00:21:56.759 --> 00:22:01.039 Attoban's had attacked the country despite Guatemala's almost complete lack 321 00:22:01.079 --> 00:22:04.720 of aircraft, forcing the United States to intervene in defense 322 00:22:04.759 --> 00:22:08.559 of Honduras. A simple plan if not for the fact 323 00:22:08.599 --> 00:22:11.680 that Honduran authorities after the bombing had taken place on 324 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:15.599 a deserted airstrip near the border, gave contradictory reports about 325 00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:19.200 the location of the attack. This made the international press 326 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:23.000 suspicious and unwilling to run the story, in an act 327 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:27.000 of rare restraint for the time. That same day, another 328 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:30.319 American pilot tasked with bombing the government's radio station in 329 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:35.440 Guatemala City mistakenly bombed the headquarters of an American evangelical mission, 330 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:38.559 which was fortunately vacant. At the time of the strike. 331 00:22:40.359 --> 00:22:43.799 It had become increasingly evident that the entire operation had 332 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:50.839 turned into a comedy of errors. Stephen Kinzer, the coupe 333 00:22:50.839 --> 00:22:51.920 didn't go well. 334 00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:56.599 Several of the planes that the CIA was using were lost. 335 00:22:57.240 --> 00:23:00.920 At one point, it almost seemed like the who had failed. 336 00:23:01.240 --> 00:23:05.039 But two things happened I think that made it succeed. 337 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:11.200 First of all, when new planes were needed, Alan Dulles 338 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:16.039 went directly to Eisenhower, and Eisenhower approved the dispatch of 339 00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:21.119 new planes. He later said famously that whenever you decide 340 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:24.599 to take the path of violence, of the support of violence, 341 00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:28.079 it is too late to turn back. You have to 342 00:23:28.119 --> 00:23:31.720 put in all your resources to guarantee that you succeed. 343 00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:35.319 So that was important. The other thing that happened had 344 00:23:35.319 --> 00:23:38.519 to do with our bends. He lost his nerve. He 345 00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:44.039 didn't handle the crisis well. I later met with Joree Torrieo, 346 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:48.119 who was his foreign minister. Torrieo said to me, the 347 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:52.960 cabinet should have been in permanent session that whole two weeks. Instead, 348 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:57.359 the cabinet never met even once. So our bends did 349 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:03.079 not respond well, and I think that turned a CIA 350 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:06.720 operation that might have failed into a success. 351 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:14.119 Unfortunately for Arbenz, who was starting to feel rather hopeful 352 00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:17.920 about things, the United States had infinite resources. For any 353 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:20.799 botched operation, two more would be set up, like some 354 00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:25.880 kind of clumsy, inefficient hydra. Even the most dismal percentage 355 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:29.119 of success would have still resulted in the US ultimately 356 00:24:29.160 --> 00:24:33.960 winning and overthrowing the Guatemalan government Huckabo. Arbenz never ceased 357 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:37.519 to negotiate pleading with the US for a peaceful resolution. 358 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:43.240 Unfortunately for him, it was never in the cards. CIA 359 00:24:43.319 --> 00:24:47.200 director Alan Dulles was also pleading with Dwight Eisenhower, but 360 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:51.640 for more airplanes. As described in Bitter Fruit by Stephen 361 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:55.240 Kinser and Stephen Slessinger, as well as in Secret History 362 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:58.920 by Nick Cullither, the President asked Dulles what chances they 363 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:01.519 had of succeeding he had not provided the CIA with 364 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:07.160 additional aircraft. About zero, Dellas replied, and suppose we supply 365 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:11.720 the aircraft? Asked the President about twenty percent, said Dulls, 366 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:15.359 If you said ninety percent, I would have said no. 367 00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:20.599 Eisenhower concluded, and that might have been the exact moment 368 00:25:21.079 --> 00:25:41.480 the fate of Guatemala was decided. In a last ditch effort, 369 00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:45.759 Attobenz's government requested that the United Nations investigate the events 370 00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:49.440 taking place in Guatemala. The Security Council called for the 371 00:25:49.559 --> 00:25:53.119 immediate termination of any action likely to cause bloodshed and 372 00:25:53.240 --> 00:25:58.799 requested all members abstain from rendering assistance to any such action. However, 373 00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:02.359 nothing was done to further investigate the events or to 374 00:26:02.440 --> 00:26:05.720 ensure the resolution would be respected. In fact, at the 375 00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:08.279 time of the coup in June of nineteen fifty four, 376 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:11.480 the UN Security Council, whose presidency is held by a 377 00:26:11.480 --> 00:26:15.799 different member state every month, was headed by the United States. 378 00:26:16.920 --> 00:26:21.000 Almost certainly, the timing of the coup was no coincidence. 379 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:26.720 Emboldened by a lack of international scrutiny, the CIA put 380 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:31.200 their new aircraft to work shelling Guatemala's countryside and hitting 381 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:36.640 military facilities to support Castillo Atomas's ground efforts forget a 382 00:26:36.680 --> 00:26:40.559 bloodless coup. The operation had just devolved into a precise, 383 00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:48.279 nevertheless violent internal conflict. The capital was next. In Guatemala's city, 384 00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:50.759 the sound of actual air strikes blended in with the 385 00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:53.799 fake ones blasted by the speakers outside the American embassy, 386 00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:59.519 a dystopian scene of chaos and psychological warfare. The police 387 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:03.759 for Diploma Mussy quickly turned to please for mercy. Arbenz's 388 00:27:03.799 --> 00:27:07.720 government frantically and repeatedly wired US officials asking for an 389 00:27:07.720 --> 00:27:13.039 immediate ceasefire, but to no avail. On the contrary, the 390 00:27:13.079 --> 00:27:17.359 CIA could smell blood in the water and intensified their attacks. 391 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:21.319 The Voice of Liberation, the rogue radio station they had created, 392 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:24.519 continued to spread rumors of an army in the thousands 393 00:27:24.519 --> 00:27:28.599 marching through the countryside. Reporters could not verify such rumors, 394 00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:30.799 so they turned to what had always been their best 395 00:27:30.839 --> 00:27:36.599 source of information, the United Fruit Company Lafrutera, advised by 396 00:27:36.599 --> 00:27:39.839 its PR firm in New York City, started circulating pictures 397 00:27:39.880 --> 00:27:44.559 of alleged rebels who had joined Custeu Onomas's ranks. In reality, 398 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:48.680 they were just peasants who had been asked to pose 399 00:27:48.759 --> 00:27:53.559 with unloaded rifles. They also circulated pictures of mass graves 400 00:27:54.039 --> 00:27:59.960 alleged proof of Adben's atrocities. The pictures were of dubious origins, 401 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:03.559