The U.S. foreign policy in Guatemala : a case study of the United Fruit Company

Abstract

Many would agree that the United Fruit Company (UFC), a huge multinational corporation in the agricultural sector, has played a leading role in the overthrowing of the government of Arbenz in Guatemala in 1959. However, there is a striking lack of literature on the links between the aim of the U.S. administration to prevent the spread of Communism in neighbouring Latin American countries (a major pillar of U.S. foreign policy), and the role of the United Fruits in Guatemala. The aim of this dissertation is to review the connection between the State Department, Central Intelligence Agency of the U.S, the Military Complex and the United Fruit Company in Guatemala for the coup d’état against the Socialist government. It looked into Neo-Mercantalist theories of International Political Economy (IPE), which focus on the statist style of building imperial power through special subsidy and monopolistic privilege to individuals or groups which are in favour of the state. The qualitative analysis of the dissertation allows the research question under investigation to be evaluated through techniques like case studies and interviews, among others. Issues and subjects covered can be evaluated in depth and in detail. The data in qualitative research, which depends on human experience, is more compelling and powerful in comparison to quantitative research. The case study showed that the US administration has identified the Socialist government of Arbenz as becoming an increasing threat to the stability of other countries in the region, with its powerful propaganda, broad social programmes, and position against large foreign enterprises, which appealed to the poor populations of Central American neighbours. The ousting of Arbenz was a central part of the US military activity in Guatemala. Defending the UFC in Guatemala was fundamental for the Central Intelligence Agency, which had taken up the task of upholding the first line of defence against Communism in Latin America within the dominant context of the Cold War. The UFC was successful in presenting to the US administration, legitimate and necessary domestic reforms in Guatemala as the epitome and the essence of the triumph of Communism and the fall of Latin America into Communist hands.