How Did Guatemala After Independence

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 United States was in favor of democracy in Latin America; however, the reforms made by these “democracies” had to stay within the limits imposed by the US. Therefore, Arbenz became a communist threat after legalizing the communist party and moving to nationalize the plantation of the United Fruit Company . By nationalizing the United Fruit Company, the US and the land owners in Guatemala were going to lose money; therefore, they shared common ground, and were against it. They did not agree with the empowerment of the indigenous people of Mayan descent, and were always discriminated upon. The dictators from neighboring countries were afraid that the reforms being made in Guatemala were going to influence their “respective oligarchies” (Rabe, Stephen G.) and helped organize a possible coup with the United States (Miller, Talea). The CIA desperately searched for any ties between the USSR and Arbenz, but could not find anything. The CIA in Guatemala reported a list with names of communists that they wanted to eliminate when an anti-communist coup was taken place (Document 2), and the killings

However, Guatemalan presidents only serve one term, opposed to the two of the United States. The Guatemalan capital and largest city is Guatemala City, but it hasn’t always been. Guatemala’s capital city used to be Antigua before it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1773. Although it is no longer the capital, Antigua has been rebuilt, and remains a prominent city to date. The armed forces of Guatemala include

Ever since the first coffee bean tree was discovered in Ethiopia, the bean became a pleasurable commodity that spread quickly to Yemen and other Asian countries. It wasn’t long before it came to Brazil, becoming one of the largest coffee producing countries in the world today. Throughout time, people came up with brewing systems and coffee-making machines that made it easy to manufacture coffee but it wasn’t like that in the early 1800’s. Slaves came into Brazil and were forced to work in difficult labor conditions to collect and roast coffee beans.

In 1964, Guatemala was being run by a military junta, violence was a part of every day life, the economy was in shambles, and jobs were scare (Cuevas, 2011). It was in this setting that a young man, my future father-in-law, took a chance at a better life for he and his family. Enticed by rumors of prosperity in the United States, Alex and his brother Rene saved their money to journey to Chicago, leaving their families behind in a search for hope that was borne of desperation. Alex left his wife Ruth with 20 Guatemalan Quetzal, the equivalent of $20 dollars, and their three children, Vivien, 5, Ingrid, 3, and Marvin, a newborn baby. What experience lay in store for he and his family? How would they fare in an unknown country, without

Guatemala is the key trade partner of the United States, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama are other major trading partners. Between 2008 – 2009 total exports have decreased from $17,848 billion, to $6,768 billion. While imports are estimated to have declined from 13.42 billion dollars in 2008 to 10.91 billion dollars in 2009. Even though Guatemala tries to expand its manufacturing activities to reduce economic dependence on agriculture. The agricultural sector is a major contestant of Guatemala’s import, export

Until late 1996, Guatemala was backed by U.S. authoritarian governments, which can only mean that they made much of an impression on what was going on

The Guatemalan culture is very different than the American culture. They eat and drink almost the same food as us but at different times. Almost every meal in Guatemala consists of black beans, white rice, and corn tortillas. Their breakfast is a little different then us as they eat scrambled eggs with fried plantains. Fresh fruit is very common as they love it in Guatemala. The country’s favorite meat are chicken and beef. These meats and all other meats are usually salted and put in chili sauce. There traditional snacks are tamales and empanadas. They usually drink weak coffee with little milk along with their meals. They also love having fruit juice mixed with water or milk. In Guatemala they can’t drink their tap water because it’s not clean which could result in upset stomach or infections. Guatemala has similar foods to us but they still don’t have the amount of food or sanitation we have in America.

Guatemala, the most populous country in Central America, is a textbook example of a country firmly in stage 2 of the demographic transition model. A country steeped in rich culture, Guatemala still has a sizeable population of Mayans, the ethnic group that populated the geographical region pre-colonization. This minority is often the victim of marginalization, much like the Native Americans of the United States. This, combined with the pressures of a rapidly increasing population, create many complicated issues for the country to deal with as its next generation comes of age.

Overall i have learned through my research that Guatemala is a very peaceful country. These features are important to this country because every part of the flag makes the country better in every way. My favorite part about this project is how much thought goes into the making of a flag and how they gained independence from

The Guatemalan Revolution was on October 1944 and it forced the resignation of Jorge Ubico. He was the President of Guatemala in the previous thirteen years. Ubico's government was a fear period in the country and it was called the “peace on the cemeteries”

With little to no economic activity, an extremely unstable government, natural disaster, and constant emigration Guatemala has faced a large amount of challenges. One of the largest challenges in Latin Americas history being the brutal 36 year Guatemalan Civil War that tore apart the country. Leaving over 200,000 dead, 200,000 in refugee camps, and the nation in extreme poverty.

Decolonization can cause a great deal of tension between the colonizers and the colonized of a country. This is especially true for the country of Guatemala, where Spanish colonizers settled on and started to conquer Mayan or indigenous peoples land. During the late 1900’s, a civil war broke out between the indigenous people and the government of Guatemala. The result of the civil war was a genocide, killing and displacing thousands of innocent Mayan’s; and destroying most of their land. The government attempted to abolish the indigenous people because they feared that the Mayan’s were turning communistic.(Rey 241) A genocide was started that would remove the Mayan culture and history from Guatemala, ending the existence of the indigenous people. Rigorberto Menchu’s book I, Rigorberto Menchu describes the events that took place during this brutal genocide and how the indigenous people lived through this genocide.

You have to understand that there were many different things that happened in Guatemala. The team that I was a part of experienced an entire week in Guatemala and I have filled pages and pages of my journal writing about the week. There are countless stories I can tell you. That week was not just depressing like this paper might lead you to believe. It was filled with joy and laughter. Except there was also heartbreak and tears, and that is what I need to tell you about.