Guatemala Transition Paper

In Guatemala when president Arbenz took office in 1951, he announced the agrarian reform law in 1952 and the sweeping agenda, he found himself at odds with the American companies that dominated Guatemalas economy which together these three companies had more than $100 million invested in Guatemala. (pp. 132-133).This factored American intervention in Guatemala and the overthrow of Arbenz.

In the book The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War, author Greg Grandin traces Guatemala’s evolutionary period from the late 19th century to the early 1980s. What he dubs as ‘the last colonial massacre,’ the Panzós Massacre of 1978 was the mass murder by the Guatamalan army of 35 Q’echi-Mayan men, women and children who had gathered in the town square demanding democractic representation, land reform and higher wages. Outrage over this massacre led many Guatemalan peasants to join the communist Guerilla Army of the Poor (EGP) which prompted violence and repression by the US backed right-wing government. Grandin’s thesis is that Cold War terror unleashed or excused by the United States, weakened the advancement of democracy

The author of this book is Juan Jose Arevalo and he was a professor of philosophy who became Guatemala’s first democratically elected president in 1944. He was elected after a popular uprising against the United States, backed by Dictator Jorge Ubico, which began the Guatemalan Revolution. He stayed in office until 1951 and had survived 15 coup attempts. During his presidency he had passed several social reform policies that included an increase in minimum wage and a series of literacy programs. He also directed and ministered the drafting of a new constitution in 1945. Arevalo focused much on the need of advancement with individuals and communities. After he was exiled as being a university professor he went back to Guatemala to help the new post-Ubico government, focusing on the areas of social security and drafting of a new constitution. He developed the term “spiritual socialism”, in which he defined his political philosophy as. The philosophy was pointed towards the moral development of Guatemalans with the intent to liberate man psychologically. Arevalo strongly believed that this theoretical doctrine was vital to the making of a progressive and peaceful Guatemalan society. He felt in order to create an ideal society it was necessary to allow the citizens the freedom to pursue their own opinions, property, and way of life. He proclaimed that protecting the freewill of the citizens creates more support for governmental institutions, which in turn ensures the security of

United States’ system has its foundation on an agreement between the people and the government to ensure that individual liberties continue to prosper under a free society. The Declaration of Independence lists three important rights that the Founding Fathers considered natural and unalienable. They are the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Government exists to protect these rights. On other hand, the purpose of Guatemala’s government, according to the Guatemala’s Constitution, is to promote the common welfare, the consolidation of the regime of legality, security, equality, justice, liberty and peace. Both countries have its foundation on democracy; nevertheless, there are specific characteristics that mark a difference between them.

The U. S. System of government is a mutual agreement between the people and the government to ensure that individual liberties continue to prosper under a free society. This idea was established by the Mayflower Compact by some of America’s first settles, the Pilgrims, in 1620. The Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776, listed America’s reasons for independence from Great Britain, but also further explained the rights of free people and how they should live under a responsible government.

“The people of Nicaragua were suffering oppression. This made us develop an awareness which eventually led us to commit ourselves to the struggle against the domination of the capitalists of our country in collusion with the United States government.” (Daniel Ortega 1974) As has been discussed throughout the semester thus far many countries throughout Latin America have experienced a political revolution in some way, shape, or form. In the early 1970’s Nicaragua joined the long list of Latin American countries to experience a revolution when the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) lead by Daniel Ortega successfully overthrew the Somoza dynasty. Many people often times have a misconception of what exactly a political revolution

U.S. vs Guatemala You might believe that the United States is the best country there is, because it is the only country you got to know. But what about all of the other countries that you don’t ever think about? One of the countries that probably never crosses your mind is Guatemala. After doing so much research on this beautiful country, I have found that there are a lot of differences between the United States and Guatemala.

The majority of the population residing in Salem have wholeheartedly been convinced with the insinuation that the existence of witches could have been genuine years ago. The author of the play, Arthur Miller, is unbelievably able to actively keep alive the excitement about a specific trial that occurred multiple years ago. One of the characters, John Proctor, is a captivating man who is a mystery to many of the people around him. It is made obvious that his antipode is Reverend Hale, someone who strongly believes in the witches. Proctor’s individuality is clearly displayed when others living in the same environment are victims of mass hysteria, the main theme in Act I.

I studied many things about Guatemala such as, the culture, religion, food, population, geography, imports, exports, and most popular of all sports. The sports of Guatemala is something I found very interesting.

During the 1970’s more and more protests and uprisings in the capital and the southwest part of the nation became very frequent, and overtime, very violent. The Peace Pledge Union expressed a dramatic and detailed example of the violent acts that the military of Guatemala practiced on Indian natives in search of subversives,

Start of the twentieth century it seemed like El Salvador finally establishes a viable government and began building an economy (Background, 2012). Then, the economic crisis of the 1930s occurs and the international markets plummeted and so did El Salvador. Externally, El Salvador was not a huge contender in global markets, but internally the social, political and economic environment in El Salvador was becoming tense and in 1932 the peasant workers in the rural countryside raised up against the land elites (Benavides, 2008). The

Set during the gold rush era The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt tells the tale of two brothers Charlie and Eli who work together as murderers for hire Right from the beginning it is evident that Eli doesnt share his brothers enthusiasm for killing As the novel progresses Eli becomes more familiarized to his sensitive side He starts watching his weight brushing his teeth and even searching for love Finally Eli completely leaves the path of murder when he sees their target Herman Kermit Warms innovative way to find gold Similar to when Eli comes across the toothbrush Eli sees the brilliance of the human mind in Warms invention and finally decides to put his old ways behind him once and for all Through the acts of saving a horse falling in

In 1945, Juan José Arevalo Bermejo became the first democratically elected Guatemalan president, beginning many progressive reforms that were continued by his successor, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán. These reforms included stripping land from the United Fruit Company, an American corporation that controlled a vast amount of Guatemalan territory, and redistributing it among the Guatemalan people, particularly benefiting the native Mayans (Walker). This venture would hopefully bring a balance to the distribution of wealth in Guatemalan society. According to the CIA documentation of this period, the administrations under Arevalo and Arbenz were reformist, offering one of the last chances for democratic change in the region (Cullather 1).

Throughout 1939-1971, El Salvador was run by a military-style dictatorship, causing those who had land and wealth to be stripped from them just because they could. According to Encyclopedia Britannica the persistence of this dictatorship can be partly credited to Augustin Farabundo Marti, who forced the Salvadorian Communist Party (2017). Proving to be a catalyst for conflicts for years to come.

Amidst the prime-time republican presidential debate broadcasted at the Reagan Library, all eleven candidates including Donald Trump had something to prove. A record 23 million people tuned in to watch the dispute. Early in the debate, Donald Trump was the obvious forerunner amongst his peers. He came in with the most support and confidence, and as an individual he couldn’t be tainted; despite all of the attacks made against him in those three hours, Trump stood his ground. Quick wittedly answering questions from the podium ranging from foreign policy to child vaccines. Furthermore, Trump had the spotlight throughout the entire debate; he was persistent in answering a variety of questions and gaining support via the audience as well as his fellow nominees.