by Matthew Ward, COHA Research Fellow

 

To mark the 50^thanniversary of the CIA-sponsored invasion of Guatemala, Australia-based COHA Research Fellow Matthew Ward has produced an insightful report, re-investigating this pinnacle event.  Drawing on over 14,000 pages of recently de-classified CIA documentation, he critiques the machinations of the US government in the late 1940s and 1950s.  Through primary and secondary research, Ward’s analysis focuses on the motives and actions of specific public and private sector members of this country’s ‘political elite,’ surrounding the time of the invasion. Half a century after the overthrow of Guatemala’s elected president, the horrendous scars inflicted during that era can still be seen in the fractured socio- and political landscape of the country; as a result of this initiative, the CIA along with the State Department sealed the fate of the 200,000 people who were murdered during the subsequent 36-year-war.  Americans will undoubtedly be troubled by the disgraceful actions carried out in their name, whose reverberations still have an appalling impact on Guatemala today.   

 

Title Page

Table of Contents - Interactive

Abstract

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Historical Background

Chapter 3: An Act in Defense of National Security?

Chapter 4: Bureaucratic Politics & the Decision to Use Force

Chapter 5: Conclusion

Appendix A: Timeline of Events

Appendix B: Persons of Note

Bibliography