Carlos Castillo Armas

Carlos Castillo Armas (November 4, 1914 – July 26, 1957) was a Guatemalan military officer who seized power in a CIA-orchestrated coup in 1954. He held the title of President of Guatemala from July 8, 1954 until his assassination in 1957.

The 1944 Revolution
Prior to the 1944 Revolution, Carlos Castillo Armas served as an artillery instructor at Fort San Jose. During the 1944 Revolution, he strongly supported Francisco Javier Arana and friend Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, two members of the ruling triumvirate. For his support, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and joined the new General Staff. For seven months, between October 1945 and April 1946, Castillo Armas received training at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, coming in contact with American intelligence officers. After serving on the General Staff, he became director of the Escuela Politécnia in 1947 and later commander of Mazatenango in 1948.

After Arana's death in 1949, the Guatemalan government imprisoned Castillo Armas, only to release him months later. Upon his release, he came into contact with the CIA and launched a failed attack on the Aurora Base in 1950. Imprisoned once more, he escaped in 1951.

The coup
The United States was also opposed to the nationalization efforts, the destabilizing effect of the Czech weaponry that arrived in Guatemala on May 15, 1954, and Arbenz's perceived communism. This led to CIA support for Castillo (CIA codename: "Calligeris") and his army. In 1954, they invaded Guatemala, forcing Árbenz to resign in favor of Carlos Enrique Díaz. Two days later, the army, under Colonel Elfego Monzón, deposed Díaz and established a military junta. On July 2, 1954, Carlos Castillo was invited to join the ruling junta. Six days later, on July 8, he succeeded Monzón.

A Marine Corps Colonel (now retired) who participated in the overthrow wrote later that "our success' led to 31 years of repressive military rule and the deaths of more than 100,000 Guatemalans."

Military Government Board (1954)
 * Colonel H. Elfego Monzón
 * Colonel Enrique Trinidad Oliva
 * Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas
 * Colonel Mauricio Dubois
 * Colonel José Luis Cruz Salazar

Presidency and assassination
On September 1, the remaining members of the military junta resigned, and Carlos Castillo was formally declared president, ushering in a decades-long period of dictatorial rule. Upon taking office, he disenfranchised more than half of Guatemala's voting population by removing the voting ability of illiterates. By the end of July 1954, Castillo had not only cancelled the law that facilitated the nation's land reform, Decree 900, forcing peasants to vacate their newly acquired lands, but, at the CIA's request, formed the National Committee of Defense Against Communism, which is generally acknowledged to be Latin America's first modern death squad. He purged the government and trade unions of people suspected of left-wing sympathies, banned political parties and peasant organizations, and restored the secret police force of the Jorge Ubico era. Towards the end of the summer of 1954, Castillo issued the Preventive Penal Law Against Communism, which increased the penalties for many "Communist" activities, including labor union activities.

In 1954, Allen Dulles. Director of the CIA and a member of the Board of Trustees for the United Fruit Company, applauded the victory of 'democracy' over communism and that the situation in Guatemala was 'being cured by the Guatemalans themselves'.

A British official remarked that 'in places, it might almost be Molotov speaking about...Czechoslovakia or Hitler speaking about Austria.'

In 1955, Castillo postponed the next year's presidential election. He did allow for congressional elections. However, only his own party, the National Liberation Movement (MLN) was allowed to field candidates. In Richard Nixon's Vice Presidential visit in 1955, he commented that "President Castillo Armas' objective, 'to do more for the people in two years than the Communists were able to do in ten years,' is important. This is the first instance in history where a Communist government has been replaced by a free one."

Castillo later visited Vice President Nixon in Washington and stated, "Tell me what you want me to do and I will do it."

Following this, in a 2 year period, Castillo received US$90 Million in financial support from the US Government.

In 1956 he implemented a new constitution and had himself declared president for four years. He was shot dead in the presidential palace by a palace guard, Romeo Vásquez, on July 26, 1957. It is still uncertain whether the killer was paid to assassinate Castillo, or had other motives. Vásquez was found dead a short while later in what is believed to be a suicide. Castillo was succeeded by Luis González.

After the assassination, The United Fruit Company was returned land lost during nationalisation undertaken under the previous Guatemalan President, Jacobo Guzman.

References and further reading

 * Stephen Kinzer, Stephen Schlesinger. Bitter Fruit. 2005 Edition. David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
 * Piero Gleijeses. Shattered Hope: The Guatemalan Revolution and the United States: 1944-1954. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991.
 * Nick Cullather. Secret History: The CIA’s Classified Account of Its Operations in Guatemala, 1952-1954. 2nd ed. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006.
 * Richard H. Immerman. The CIA in Guatemala: The Foreign Policy of Intervention. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982.