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Thanks, a nice introduction to the topic. Some details in the following article: "In June of 1954, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower approved a coup, led by the

by acqq 10y ago

Thanks, a nice introduction to the topic. Some details in the following article: "In June of 1954, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower approved a coup, led by the Central Intelligence Agency, to drive Árbenz out of power. It was subtle and designed to be secret: Almost $3 million was allotted for the operation, and the largest expenditure was for "psychological warfare and political action” designed to limit detection of American fingerprints. CIA director Allen Dulles wrote in a memo to President Eisenhower that, “The entire effort is…more dependent upon psychological impact rather than actual military strength.” The gambit worked, and when the coup ended, the CIA installed a new president sympathetic to American interests. Árbenz was taken to the airport, stripped to his underwear, paraded before cameras, and exiled to Mexico. The fight with the United States that had cost him his dignity was over taxes, land, and wages. But at its core, it was about bananas. Árbenz spent the next few decades wandering around Mexico, Switzerland and France. Meanwhile, Guatemala, stripped of its leader, its dignity, and its national ambition, descended into civil war. The conflict lasted 36 years." http://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2016/08/bananas-are-so-cool/ http://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/th... And in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A...

HalfwayToDice 10y ago
The idea that a banana company got the CIA to overthrow a country suits a kinda leftwing hackernews narrative, but it's largely nonsense of course.
- TorKlingberg 10y ago
  Are you going to argue a point or just act condescending?
- bogomipz 10y ago
  You should do some reading on the subject before offering your uninformed opinion as fact. Nobody said a banana company overthrew a government but rather they colluded with folks who could. And it was an obvious choice a they were hugely influential and well connected as the country's largest employer. They also controlled some of the only infrastructure in the country in the form of railways. The CIA was involved because because it had a vested interest in keeping leftist governments out of the Americas. The CIAs involvement as well as the US interventionist policies in Central America are fact. They are both well very well known and documented. They also largely continued right up through the 1980s(See the Sandinistas, The Iran Contra Affair.) Hello? Here is a nice time line outlining different affairs: https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/us-interventions-in-latin-american-021/ https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/us-interventions-in-lati... and the the Guatemalan incident being referred to above is documented on the CIAs own website: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol44no5/html/v44i5a03p.htm https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intellig... Your own comment is largely nonsense of course.

by acqq 10y ago

HalfwayToDice 10y ago

The idea that a banana company got the CIA to overthrow a country suits a kinda leftwing hackernews narrative, but it's largely nonsense of course.

TorKlingberg 10y ago
Are you going to argue a point or just act condescending?
bogomipz 10y ago
You should do some reading on the subject before offering your uninformed opinion as fact. Nobody said a banana company overthrew a government but rather they colluded with folks who could. And it was an obvious choice a they were hugely influential and well connected as the country's largest employer. They also controlled some of the only infrastructure in the country in the form of railways. The CIA was involved because because it had a vested interest in keeping leftist governments out of the Americas. The CIAs involvement as well as the US interventionist policies in Central America are fact. They are both well very well known and documented. They also largely continued right up through the 1980s(See the Sandinistas, The Iran Contra Affair.) Hello? Here is a nice time line outlining different affairs: https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/us-interventions-in-latin-american-021/ https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/us-interventions-in-lati... and the the Guatemalan incident being referred to above is documented on the CIAs own website: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol44no5/html/v44i5a03p.htm https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intellig... Your own comment is largely nonsense of course.