1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome 3 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. 4 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: Over the next two episodes, we're going to be talking 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: about something that still has a lot of relevance in 6 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: the world today, and that is the nineteen fifty four 7 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:30,319 Speaker 1: coup that overthrew the democratically elected president of Guatemala, which 8 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:34,839 Speaker 1: was orchestrated by the US Central Intelligence Agency. It's not 9 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: really accurate to say that this caused the coupe, but 10 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: one of its biggest advocates in the United States was 11 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,239 Speaker 1: United Fruit Company. Sometimes you'll see it described as like 12 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: United Fruit Company convinced the CIA to overthrow this government, 13 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 1: and that's fu exactly what happened. It also didn't happen 14 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: in isolation. This was rooted in Cold War paranoia about communism, 15 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: and it was also part of an overall pattern of 16 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 1: US intervention in Latin America and an overall pattern of 17 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 1: US business interests trying to influence the governments of those nations. 18 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: So today we will have an overview of how the 19 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: United States relationship to Latin America evolved over the nineteenth 20 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 1: and twentieth centuries. This definitely is not every twist and 21 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 1: turn of those decades. It's more like a through line 22 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,680 Speaker 1: to put this stuff in context. Plus the stuff that's 23 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: going to kind of come up later in the episodes, 24 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: and we will talk about how United Fruit Company came 25 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: to be such a major player in Guatemala in the 26 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: first place, and what was happening in Guatemala that caused 27 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: the United Fruit Company to be so opposed to it. 28 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: The next time, the second part of this two party, 29 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 1: we will talk about the coup itself and its aftermath. 30 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: This school was carried out in nineteen fifty four, but 31 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: the United States mentality behind it goes back to the 32 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: Monroe Doctrine, which was articulated by President James Monroe in 33 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 1: his December second, eight three annual Address to Congress. This 34 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: that's known today as the State of the Union Address, 35 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: and the address and the ideas in it were heavily 36 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,640 Speaker 1: influenced by Monroe's Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams. We 37 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:12,080 Speaker 1: talked about it just a little on our episode on 38 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:15,359 Speaker 1: John Quincy and his wife Louisa. There's obviously a lot 39 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,079 Speaker 1: more in the scope of this address, but the basic 40 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,800 Speaker 1: ideas of the Monroe Doctrine were these. Number one, the 41 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,359 Speaker 1: world had two spheres of influence, the America's where their 42 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:27,799 Speaker 1: own sphere, and the rest of the world was another. 43 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: Number two, the Americas were also not open for further 44 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,800 Speaker 1: colonization by European world powers. Number three, the US wouldn't 45 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,359 Speaker 1: interfere with the internal matters of other nations. That included 46 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: remaining neutral in the face of wars in Europe and 47 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 1: remaining neutral when it came to existing European colonies in 48 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: the America's And then number four, if a European power 49 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: attacked or attempted to exert control over a nation in 50 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: the Western Hemisphere, the United States would view that as 51 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: an attack on itself. One of the mode vations behind 52 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: the Monroe Doctrine was the recent independence of several nations 53 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: in Central and South America, which had previously been Spanish 54 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: colonial territory. The US was concerned about the possibility of 55 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: Spain or another European nation trying to recolonize, and the 56 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: Latin American nations themselves had the same concerns. In eighteen 57 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,680 Speaker 1: twenty six, Simon Bolivar convened the Panama Congress, which brought 58 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: together several newly independent Latin American republics to discuss these 59 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: same issues. While the Monroe Doctrine asserted that the Western 60 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: hemisphere was off limits to European colonization, it didn't suggest 61 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: that the United States should stop its western expansion across 62 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: North America, but also didn't really suggest that the United 63 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: States couldn't expand its territory beyond that which happened through 64 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: everything from the annexation of Texas to the treaties that 65 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 1: into the Mexican American War in eighteen forty eight and 66 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: the Spanish American War in eighteen ninety eight. The Monroe 67 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: Doctrine also didn't really discourage the United States from trying 68 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: to extend its influence within the Western hemisphere, including through 69 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: what came to be known as the Big Brother Policy. 70 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: In eight nine, U s Secretary of State James G. 71 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: Blaine spearheaded the first International Conference of American States, and 72 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:20,479 Speaker 1: this was the first in a series of meetings among 73 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: the United States and several Latin American countries, and it 74 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: was something Blaine had been advocating for about a decade, 75 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 1: and this led to the creation of the International Union 76 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: of American Republics and the International Bureau of American Republics 77 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety. The Bureau later became known as the 78 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 1: Pan American Union. These conferences and the organization that grew 79 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 1: out of them were meant to improve cooperation among the 80 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: nations involved, including working out matters of international trade, international law, 81 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: and dispute resolution. And although it was an international organization, 82 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: it was also heavily directed by the United States, circling 83 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,240 Speaker 1: back to that idea of the US being the big 84 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: brother in this part of the world. The first conference 85 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: was held in Washington, d c. Where the Bureau was 86 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: also headquartered. The United States also organized the Bureau and 87 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,480 Speaker 1: funded its first year of existence. The Secretary of State 88 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:16,280 Speaker 1: of the United States was also chair of the organization's 89 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: governing board, including after Hispanic delegates tried to turn it 90 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: into an elected position. The Monroe doctrine was a cornerstone 91 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,679 Speaker 1: of US foreign policy until nineteen o four, when President 92 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: Theodore Roosevelt articulated what came to be known as the 93 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:35,040 Speaker 1: Roosevelt Corollary in his annual Message to Congress. The Roosevelt 94 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:38,719 Speaker 1: Corollary expanded the Monroe doctrines, who include the idea that 95 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: the United States had a responsibility to police the Western hemisphere, 96 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:46,480 Speaker 1: preserving the quality of life in other countries, and taking 97 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: direct action to restore and maintain order. Here is a 98 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: segment of that address quote. All that this country desires 99 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: is to see the neighboring country stable, orderly, and prosperous. 100 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,280 Speaker 1: Any country who's people conduct themselves well can count upon 101 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 1: our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows 102 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: how to act with reasonable efficiency and decency in social 103 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, 104 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: it need fear no interference from the United States. Chronic 105 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: wrongdoing or in impotence which results in a general loosening 106 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:25,120 Speaker 1: of the ties of civilized society may in America as elsewhere, 107 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, And in the 108 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:32,159 Speaker 1: Western Hemisphere, the adherents of the United States to the 109 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however, reluctantly, in 110 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise 111 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: of an international police power. Another aspect of this that 112 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: was alluded to briefly in that was the collection of 113 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: debts under the Roosevelt corollary, if a country in the 114 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: Western Hemisphere had an unpaid debt to one of the 115 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: European powers, that European power could not collect the debt directly. Instead, 116 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:00,080 Speaker 1: it was supposed to go through the United States. The 117 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 1: United States had intervened in various nations in the Western 118 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:06,920 Speaker 1: Hemisphere before this point, including in Panama, where the US 119 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: controlled Panama Canal Zone was created in February nineteen o four. 120 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: But after this shift in foreign policy, the US intervened 121 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:19,520 Speaker 1: a lot, especially in the Caribbean and Central America. At 122 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: various points, the US occupied Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, 123 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: on and on. There's actually more about US intervention in Haiti, 124 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: in the Dominican Republic and the aftermath of that intervention 125 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: in our previous episode on the Mirraball Sisters. Yeah, that that, 126 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: however reluctantly statement didn't actually play out to seem all 127 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: that reluctant. It kind of seems like a cover your 128 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 1: tail phrase. Right, that's all of this. We don't want 129 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 1: to have to do this, you guys, But according to 130 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: the rules that we just made. So although Roosevelt's address 131 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 1: had really focused on ideas, like international stability. A lot 132 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 1: of these occupations and police actions and other interventions were 133 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: motivated by protecting US interests in these nations, especially business interests. 134 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: A lot of those businesses were major growers of crops 135 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: like coffee and fruit, and for this reason, sometimes all 136 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:19,520 Speaker 1: this US military activity in Latin America during this period 137 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 1: is looped together as the Banana Wars. It is also 138 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: during this same time period that the term banana republic 139 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: was coined by American writer William Sidney Porter, also known 140 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,200 Speaker 1: as O. Henry. Porter, first used the term in a 141 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: short story published in nineteen o one, and it's used 142 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,800 Speaker 1: to describe a fictional country that was probably based on Honduras, 143 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: where he was living at the time. The term conjures 144 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: up images of small, impoverished countries governed by harsh and 145 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:53,000 Speaker 1: often corrupt military dictatorships and dominated by one key agricultural export, 146 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:56,680 Speaker 1: like bananas. The term banana republic has a lot of 147 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:00,680 Speaker 1: disparaging connotations, but it also reflects the reality of what 148 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: was going on in much of Latin America. Many of 149 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:07,439 Speaker 1: these nations were reliant on one key export like bananas, 150 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: with that one industry being very tightly controlled by United 151 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: States businesses, and as those businesses tried to keep conditions 152 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:19,360 Speaker 1: favorable to their own interests in these countries, they contributed 153 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,960 Speaker 1: to ongoing instability and corruption in the nations where they 154 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:26,080 Speaker 1: were operating. Makes this kind of a weird name for 155 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: a clothing retailer. Yeah, I have often over the years 156 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: wondered how they landed there. Well, it kind of goes 157 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,000 Speaker 1: up against the cherry pop and Daddy songs zoot suit 158 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: riots in terms of historical Why did you do this? Yeah, 159 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: I guess it sounded good to someone at some point 160 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: in time. But this practice of direct intervention in international 161 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:49,520 Speaker 1: affairs took a pause after Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president, 162 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 1: And we're gonna get to all of that after we 163 00:09:51,480 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: first paused for a little sponsor break. In his March fourth, 164 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:07,280 Speaker 1: ninety three inaugural address, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt articulated what 165 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:10,840 Speaker 1: came to be known as his good neighbor policy. To quote, 166 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:14,120 Speaker 1: in the field of world policy, I would dedicate this 167 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: nation to the policy of the good neighbor, the neighbor 168 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:21,200 Speaker 1: who resolutely respects himself and because he does so, respects 169 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: the rights of others. This aligned with a proclamation signed 170 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 1: at the seventh International Conference of American States on December 171 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: twenty six that same year. Article eight of this proclamation 172 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: was that quote no state has the right to intervene 173 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 1: in the internal or external affairs of another. So, with 174 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: this reduced focus on intervention, the United States started pulling 175 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:46,240 Speaker 1: troops out of the nations that was still directly occupying, 176 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:52,319 Speaker 1: including Haiti and Nicaragua. Roosevelt's administration also encouraged favorable depictions 177 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,320 Speaker 1: of Latin Americans and of Central and South America in 178 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:59,360 Speaker 1: the media. The career of past podcast subject Carmen Miranda 179 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:02,079 Speaker 1: was tied of this whole idea, and she became something 180 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: of an international spokesperson for the ideals of the good 181 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:09,240 Speaker 1: neighbor policy. Overall, the countries in the Caribbean and Central 182 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: America saw this change in attitude with both relief and 183 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,719 Speaker 1: suspicion after so many decades of direct military intervention by 184 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:21,520 Speaker 1: the United States, But it didn't last long. After World 185 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:25,000 Speaker 1: War Two, things shifted once again, and once again the 186 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 1: shift was outlined in a president's annual address to Congress. 187 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:31,560 Speaker 1: This time the president was President Harry S. Truman, and 188 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:35,120 Speaker 1: in his March twelfth, nineteen forty seven address before Congress, 189 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:38,240 Speaker 1: he outlined the idea that the United States would intervene 190 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:42,560 Speaker 1: to help democratic nations that were being threatened by authoritarian forces, 191 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:46,840 Speaker 1: whether those forces were coming from within or without. This 192 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:50,079 Speaker 1: Truman doctrine grew out of events taking place in Greece, 193 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:54,199 Speaker 1: but a similar mindset was also driving US foreign relations 194 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:57,640 Speaker 1: in the America's In the spring of nineteen forty eight, 195 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: the ninth International Congress of American States was held in Bogota, Columbia, 196 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 1: and at this conference, the Pan American Union was reorganized 197 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,800 Speaker 1: as the Organization of American States or o a S, 198 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 1: and a lot of the ideas that were part of 199 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:16,160 Speaker 1: the Monroe and Truman doctrines became part of its formal charter, 200 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: basically applying these same ideas to all of the o 201 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:23,200 Speaker 1: S member states. The charter also built on the Rio 202 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,520 Speaker 1: Security Pact of nineteen forty seven, which was also called 203 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:30,840 Speaker 1: the Inter American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, and in that 204 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: nineteen countries signed an agreement that an attack on any 205 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 1: American state would be viewed as an attack on all 206 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:41,080 Speaker 1: the signatories. This was at the start of the Cold War, 207 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: and at this conference, the O a s also passed 208 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 1: Resolution thirty two, known as the Preservation and Defense of 209 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:52,240 Speaker 1: Democracy in America. This resolution read, in part quote, in 210 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:56,160 Speaker 1: order to safeguard peace and maintain mutual respect among states, 211 00:12:56,559 --> 00:12:59,600 Speaker 1: the present situation of the world demands that urgent measures 212 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:03,800 Speaker 1: be take in to prescribe tactics of totalitarian domination that 213 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: are inconsistent with the tradition of the countries of America, 214 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 1: and prevent agents at the service of international communism or 215 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: of any totalitarian doctrine, from seeking to distort the true 216 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: and the free will of the peoples of this continent. 217 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:21,560 Speaker 1: The republics represented at the ninth International Conference of American 218 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: States declare that, by its anti democratic nature and its 219 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:30,200 Speaker 1: interventionist tendency, the political activity of international communism or any 220 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 1: totalitarian doctrine is incompatible with the concept of American freedom, 221 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:39,319 Speaker 1: which rests upon two undeniable postulates, the dignity of man 222 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:42,400 Speaker 1: as an individual and the sovereignty of the nation as 223 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 1: a state. This resolution also condemned quote interference by any 224 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: foreign power or by any political organization serving the interests 225 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:54,440 Speaker 1: of a foreign power in the public life of the 226 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: nations of the American continent. It also condemned quote methods 227 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: of every susp him tending to suppress political and civil 228 00:14:02,679 --> 00:14:06,640 Speaker 1: rights and liberties, and in particular the action of international 229 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: communism or any totalitarian doctrine. And this is where things 230 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: take something of an ironic turn. The United States approved 231 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:19,880 Speaker 1: this resolution, which condemned international communism because of quote, its 232 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:24,360 Speaker 1: anti democratic nature and its interventionist tendency. But not long 233 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:27,960 Speaker 1: after the resolution was passed, the United States started intervening 234 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: in other nations democracies, and not necessarily because they were 235 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: under any kind of communist or totalitarian threat. In another shift, 236 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: the US increasingly handled these interventions not through direct actions, 237 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 1: but through covert operations through the newly established Central Intelligence Agency. 238 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 1: The first big example of this came in nineteen fifty three, 239 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: when the CIA orchestrated a coup that overthrew the democratically 240 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammed Massadek. The major issue 241 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 1: was that Masadek hald started nationalizing British oil fields in Iran, 242 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,040 Speaker 1: and the CIA launched the coup with the approval of 243 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 1: the British government. So this coup wasn't really about protecting 244 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 1: Iran's democratic election from authoritarian forces. It was about protecting 245 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: oil interests. For the most part, the CIA admitted its 246 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 1: role in and of course this is an entire other 247 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: story with ramifications that are still affecting the world today, 248 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: but the fact that it was successful kind of made 249 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: the CIA more okay with doing more things like this 250 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: in the future. The CIA orchestrated coup in Guatemala was similar. 251 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: It was ostensibly about stopping the spread of communism in Guatemala, 252 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 1: but one of its biggest advocates was United Fruit Company, 253 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:47,240 Speaker 1: which had a monopoly on Guatemala's banana industry. So we 254 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:49,600 Speaker 1: have to backtrack for just a moment and talk about 255 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:53,520 Speaker 1: both bananas and United Fruit Company. Zo bananas are the 256 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,880 Speaker 1: most popular fruit in the United States today, with apples 257 00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 1: being a close second. Until the end of the nine 258 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: teenth century, most Americans had never even seen one. Then 259 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy, Captain Lorenz o'doal bought a hundred and 260 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:10,160 Speaker 1: sixty bunches of green bananas in Jamaica for a shilling 261 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 1: a bunch. He took them to Jersey City and sold 262 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 1: them for two dollars a bunch, which was a huge profit. 263 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: He grew this into a business and along with several 264 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:24,000 Speaker 1: other men established Boston Fruit Company in eighteen eighty six. 265 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:27,720 Speaker 1: Soon multiple companies based in the US were buying up 266 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 1: land in the Caribbean and establishing banana plantations, and when 267 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: they started running out of available land in the Caribbean, 268 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,320 Speaker 1: they expanded into Central America. Boston Fruit Company and other 269 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 1: similar businesses didn't have much trouble buying the land that 270 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: they wanted. Likely mentioned earlier, The countries where they were 271 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,240 Speaker 1: doing business tended to be small and impoverished and governed 272 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 1: by dictatorships, so a lot of times the decision to 273 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:55,600 Speaker 1: sell this land was being made unilaterally. Often the land 274 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,640 Speaker 1: wasn't being used for anything else, so the governments were 275 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: happy to have the money or it or a government 276 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:04,240 Speaker 1: might give up the land in exchange for the fruit 277 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: company providing some new infrastructure like roads or railroads or 278 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:11,359 Speaker 1: a port. And all of this ties back to the 279 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: banana republic idea that we mentioned earlier. In Boston Fruit 280 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 1: Company merged with railroad ventures owned by Minor C. Keith, 281 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:24,360 Speaker 1: and this newly formed company was called United Fruit Company. 282 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:28,960 Speaker 1: The combined railroad slash banana plantation model meant that the 283 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,159 Speaker 1: company could establish a monopoly on growing the fruit and 284 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,120 Speaker 1: on transporting it and anything else in the territory where 285 00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:39,840 Speaker 1: it operated. And this enterprise was already pretty large, holding 286 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:42,199 Speaker 1: more than two hundred thousand acres of land in the 287 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,919 Speaker 1: Caribbean and Central America. A little over sixty tho acres 288 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,760 Speaker 1: of land were used as banana plantations. This finally brings 289 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,199 Speaker 1: us to the history of Guatemala, which we will get 290 00:17:52,200 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: to you after another sponsor break. Now we finally get 291 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:05,480 Speaker 1: to how all of this connects specifically to Guatemala. So 292 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:10,320 Speaker 1: as a quick overview of Guatemalan history. Spain began conquering 293 00:18:10,359 --> 00:18:14,800 Speaker 1: and colonizing what's now Guatemala in the sixteenth century. Guatemala 294 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:17,680 Speaker 1: was a Spanish colony for more than two hundred years, 295 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,679 Speaker 1: although in some of its more remote areas the indigenous 296 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:25,159 Speaker 1: Maya had pretty limited contact with the Spanish. Guatemala declared 297 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:28,920 Speaker 1: its independence from Spain in eighteen twenty one. From there, 298 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: it was briefly part of the Mexican Empire, and in 299 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:34,359 Speaker 1: eighteen twenty three it became part of the United Provinces 300 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: of Central America, which also included Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, 301 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:43,240 Speaker 1: and Nicaragua. The United Provinces began to fracture in eighteen 302 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:46,919 Speaker 1: thirty eight after a colera epidemic and an uprising, and 303 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,680 Speaker 1: it dissolved by eighteen forty. The uprisings leader Raphael Carrera 304 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: became president of Guatemala and after abolishing elections, became president 305 00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:59,720 Speaker 1: for life in eighteen fifty four. Again, we are really 306 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:03,399 Speaker 1: us hitting highlights here for some context. For the next 307 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:07,560 Speaker 1: several decades, Guatemala was governed by a series of dictatorships, 308 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:12,280 Speaker 1: which were occasionally interrupted by shorter term governments, and specifics 309 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,679 Speaker 1: of these dictatorships could really change from one administration to 310 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:19,560 Speaker 1: the next. For example, the Catholic Church was very powerful 311 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,320 Speaker 1: in Guatemala from eighteen twenty three until eighteen seventy one, 312 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: but when a more liberal administration took over in eighteen 313 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:28,639 Speaker 1: seventy one, the Church was stripped of a lot of 314 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: that power. In general, though, these dictatorships were all known 315 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:37,159 Speaker 1: for human rights abuses and for maintaining control through oppressive 316 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:40,159 Speaker 1: policies and the use of a standing army and secret 317 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:43,719 Speaker 1: police force, regardless of whether you might classify them as 318 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:47,480 Speaker 1: liberal or conservative. Throughout all of this, while there were 319 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:50,680 Speaker 1: some advances in things like public health and the nation's 320 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 1: overall economy. Outside of the aristocracy, Guatemala's people lived in 321 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: poverty and without a lot of basic civil rights. This 322 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,600 Speaker 1: was often particularly true for indigenous people and for the 323 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: descendants of enslaved Africans. People of both indigenous and Spanish ancestry, 324 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:11,600 Speaker 1: known in Guatemala as Ladinos, often had more social mobility, 325 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,679 Speaker 1: but overall it was socially and economically very stratified, with 326 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:20,119 Speaker 1: multi layered hierarchy based on racial, ethnic, and class disparities. 327 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:24,359 Speaker 1: For decades, any gains in civil or human rights tended 328 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:27,719 Speaker 1: to be very small and short lived in these decades. 329 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: After becoming independent, Guatemala became a major producer of coffee, 330 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:36,080 Speaker 1: which was grown on large plantations, and as this happened, 331 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:39,479 Speaker 1: Guatemala shifted away from growing crops that were grown on 332 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:44,960 Speaker 1: smaller farms, like indigo and coconeal. As part of this shift, 333 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:48,879 Speaker 1: fewer and fewer Guatemalans owned their own land as it 334 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 1: was sold or seased to be consolidated into large coffee plantations, 335 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,120 Speaker 1: and the shift happened very quickly. In eighteen sixty one, 336 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 1: coconeal made up seventy one percent of Guatemala agricultural exports. 337 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,200 Speaker 1: Ten years later, coffee was at fifty percent and coconeal 338 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:09,399 Speaker 1: was down to thirty three. That was a trend that 339 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: continued over the next couple of decades. The country also 340 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:17,399 Speaker 1: increasingly exploited the indigenous population as a source of cheap 341 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:22,200 Speaker 1: or even unpaid labor for these growing plantations. For decades, 342 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,919 Speaker 1: the peasant class, which was mostly indigenous, was subject to 343 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:29,439 Speaker 1: debt peonage, in which people were forced into unpaid labor 344 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,520 Speaker 1: in order to pay off debts, and Guatemala's economic conditions 345 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:37,679 Speaker 1: meant that in rural areas, landless people were very likely 346 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:41,400 Speaker 1: to be in debt. United Fruit Company's presence in Guatemala 347 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:44,200 Speaker 1: started to increase around the turn of the twentieth century. 348 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:49,959 Speaker 1: In Guatemalan President Manuel Estrata Cabrera gave United Fruit Company 349 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,439 Speaker 1: a ninety nine year lease on land in exchange for 350 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 1: finishing a railroad from the Guatemalan capital to the port 351 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:01,119 Speaker 1: of Puerto Barrios, which United Fruit comp He also controlled. 352 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:04,080 Speaker 1: He also put United Fruit Company in charge of the 353 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:09,040 Speaker 1: country's postal service. United Fruit Companies presence continued to grow 354 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:12,439 Speaker 1: in Guatemala after nineteen o one, with the company following 355 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:15,520 Speaker 1: a similar pattern of acquiring land for banana plantations that 356 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:19,399 Speaker 1: we talked about earlier. After Dictator Jorge Ubiko came to 357 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:23,440 Speaker 1: power in nine he granted the company another ninety nine 358 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:27,160 Speaker 1: year land lease. Part of this agreement included United Fruit 359 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,280 Speaker 1: Company agreeing not to pay workers more than fifty cents 360 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:33,440 Speaker 1: a day so that other workers wouldn't demand more money 361 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:38,080 Speaker 1: as well. Three years later, youb Go abolished Guatemala's debt 362 00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: peonage system, which had been keeping much of its indigenous 363 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:46,240 Speaker 1: population effectively enslaved. He was praised for abolishing that system, 364 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: but in its place, he implemented a vagrancy law that 365 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 1: required landless people to work for at least a hundred 366 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 1: and fifty days a year. He also passed a law 367 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:00,480 Speaker 1: that exempted landowners from prosecution if they hurt or killed 368 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:04,919 Speaker 1: someone while defending their property. So, because this work was 369 00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: legally mandated, and because landowners were empowered to use this 370 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,280 Speaker 1: kind of force under the idea of defending their property, 371 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:16,399 Speaker 1: people had virtually no negotiating power when it came to 372 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,680 Speaker 1: things like their pay and their working conditions. So even 373 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:24,320 Speaker 1: though this effective enslavement system didn't exist anymore, United Fruit 374 00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 1: Company still had access to very cheap labor. While Ubiko 375 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,280 Speaker 1: was in power, Guatemala and United Fruit Company became even 376 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:37,240 Speaker 1: more interconnected. By the nineteen forties, of the nation's arable 377 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,520 Speaker 1: land was being controlled by United Fruit Company. To look 378 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,359 Speaker 1: at it another way, less than half a percent of 379 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 1: Guatemala's farms measured more than one thousand one acres, but 380 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:50,359 Speaker 1: plantations of that size were taking up about half of 381 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: the country's farmland, and most of those plantations belonged to 382 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:57,760 Speaker 1: United Fruit Company. By this point, United Fruit Company had 383 00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:01,360 Speaker 1: become Guatemala's largest employer, and it had a monopoly over 384 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:06,680 Speaker 1: Guatemala's banana trade. It also controlled the railroads and the utilities, 385 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:10,800 Speaker 1: and the port at Puerto Barrios. United Fruit Company worked 386 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:12,880 Speaker 1: out a lot of these deals in the nineteen thirties 387 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,119 Speaker 1: thanks to John Foster Dulles. He was working at United 388 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 1: Fruit Companies law firm Sullivan and Cromwell. United Fruit Company 389 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: was such a massive presence in Guatemala and the United 390 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:26,400 Speaker 1: States was such a big part of United Fruit Company 391 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:28,800 Speaker 1: that a lot of Guatemalans thought that the two were 392 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:32,960 Speaker 1: basically the same thing. But then on July one, ninety four, 393 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:37,240 Speaker 1: things started to change. Jorge Ubiko was forced to resign 394 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:40,679 Speaker 1: after a popular uprising in general strike that was largely 395 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:46,280 Speaker 1: led by teachers, intellectuals, workers and students. Another general, Federico Pontse, 396 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:50,639 Speaker 1: became interim president. He promised an election to confirm his presidency, 397 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,639 Speaker 1: but by October of that year seemed pretty clear that 398 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:57,840 Speaker 1: no election was coming. Protests and demonstrations continued, and on 399 00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:02,359 Speaker 1: October he was overthrown in a coup led by Major 400 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:06,920 Speaker 1: Francisco Arana and Captain Jjobo Our Bends Guzman. This was 401 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:08,720 Speaker 1: a start of what came to be known as the 402 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:12,879 Speaker 1: Guatemalan Revolution or the October Revolution, and it followed the 403 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 1: overthrow of military dictatorships in both Ecuador and Al Salvador 404 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: in May of that same year. This wave of revolutions 405 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:22,840 Speaker 1: had been inspired in part by World War Two, and 406 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: the Allies focused on the ideals of democracy and human rights. 407 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,959 Speaker 1: Franklin Delano Roosevelt's four Freedom's Speech, which was his nineteen 408 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,359 Speaker 1: forty one State of the Union address, was particularly influential. 409 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 1: In that speech, he had expressed the idea that every 410 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:39,879 Speaker 1: person in the world had the right to the freedom 411 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,959 Speaker 1: of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want 412 00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:46,720 Speaker 1: in the freedom from fear. One Jose Arevalo won the 413 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 1: election that was held in December of nine with more 414 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: than eighty five percent of the vote. He had run 415 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,080 Speaker 1: on a reform platform that aligned with these ideals and 416 00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:59,199 Speaker 1: with the protests and demonstrations that had led up to 417 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:02,879 Speaker 1: the October evolution. A committee of fifteen was formed to 418 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,960 Speaker 1: draft a new constitution, which went into effect in March 419 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,639 Speaker 1: of nineteen forty five. Because Guatemala had been ruled by 420 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:13,520 Speaker 1: military dictatorships for so much of its post colonial history, 421 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:17,320 Speaker 1: this constitution limited the power of the executive branch of 422 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:22,480 Speaker 1: the Guatemalan government. It established Guatemala as a representative democracy, 423 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,199 Speaker 1: with the presidency limited to one six year term, and 424 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,560 Speaker 1: former presidents were ineligible for re election for the next 425 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:33,760 Speaker 1: twelve years. Military officers had to resign at least six 426 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: months before election day if they wanted to run for office. 427 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:42,440 Speaker 1: The new constitution also outlawed discrimination and guaranteed quote life, liberty, 428 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:46,440 Speaker 1: equality and security of the person, of honor and of property. 429 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,879 Speaker 1: Juan Jose Arevalo was inaugurated as President of Guatemala in 430 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,160 Speaker 1: March of nine, just a few days after this new 431 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 1: constitution was signed, and he had a lot to get 432 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:01,159 Speaker 1: done in his one six year term. The changes he 433 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,560 Speaker 1: and his administration tried to make were ambitious and sweeping. 434 00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:07,480 Speaker 1: He was focused on addressing the issues that had led 435 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:10,080 Speaker 1: to the October Revolution and had been part of those 436 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:15,960 Speaker 1: protests and demonstrations, especially agrarian reform, improving the educational system, 437 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:20,040 Speaker 1: protecting labor rights, and reinforcing this newly established system of 438 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:24,520 Speaker 1: democracy in Guatemala. The Arrable of government disbanded the secret 439 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:29,600 Speaker 1: police and purged Torbecou's former supporters from office. They changed 440 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 1: the oath that soldiers had to take upon entering military 441 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:36,840 Speaker 1: service to include protecting the principle of democracy, not just 442 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,720 Speaker 1: protecting the nation. The administration allowed freedom of speech and 443 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 1: a free press, and multiple political parties emerged. It was 444 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 1: totally different from the previous one party systems that tended 445 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:52,560 Speaker 1: to be under although the Communist Party was banned. Voting 446 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,720 Speaker 1: rights were expanded, although women who could not read still 447 00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:59,560 Speaker 1: could not vote. Other initiatives included equal pay laws and 448 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:04,439 Speaker 1: legal equality between husbands and wives. Guatemala's largest university was 449 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,440 Speaker 1: also put under its own control rather than being controlled 450 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:11,159 Speaker 1: by the government. Previous administrations had, for example, tried to 451 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:13,840 Speaker 1: use this government control of the university to try to 452 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 1: keep students from learning about the pro democracy movements that 453 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: were happening elsewhere in Latin America. In the nineteen forties, 454 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:23,919 Speaker 1: new labor laws at a forty hour work week and 455 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,200 Speaker 1: established paid leave after giving birth to a child, as 456 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: well as a social security system. Employers were also required 457 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:34,520 Speaker 1: to pay people in actual money rather than in script. 458 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty seven, a new labor code established collective 459 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,040 Speaker 1: bargaining rights, including the right to strike. The new labor 460 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 1: code also established labor courts to settle disputes, an increased 461 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 1: minimum wage, and other worker protections. In ninety eight, the 462 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:54,760 Speaker 1: Arrevolo government started trying to improve the condition of Guatemala's 463 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:58,160 Speaker 1: small farmers and landless citizens by passing a law that 464 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,960 Speaker 1: forced large landowners with cultivated land to rent it to 465 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: people who had no land of their own. The government 466 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: also redistributed land that had been confiscated from Germans and 467 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:12,200 Speaker 1: Nazi sympathizers during World War Two. All of this was 468 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:16,880 Speaker 1: just incredibly ambitious, and it didn't go flawlessly. The Arravla 469 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:20,760 Speaker 1: administration started to struggle about halfway through his term, as 470 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:23,760 Speaker 1: some of the projects bogged down in bureaucracy and in 471 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:27,200 Speaker 1: general it became harder to build on the earlier gains, 472 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,400 Speaker 1: but overall, this could not have been more different from 473 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:33,680 Speaker 1: the dictatorships that had governed Guatemala for most of its 474 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:38,560 Speaker 1: post colonial history. However, many of Guatemala's elite were not 475 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 1: happy about these changes, and the Arrevalo administration had to 476 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:47,200 Speaker 1: fight off seemingly continual coup attempts. US business interests were 477 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:51,719 Speaker 1: not happy either. United Fruit Company and US officials denounced 478 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 1: many of arravlos policies and programs as communism, and they 479 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:57,760 Speaker 1: started looking for a way to get rid of him, 480 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:01,080 Speaker 1: which is what we will talk about next time. Do 481 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,720 Speaker 1: you have some listener mail in the meantime? I do. 482 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:08,280 Speaker 1: This actually came in vias some tweets from John and 483 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,440 Speaker 1: John's first tweet in this couple of tweets that he 484 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:16,240 Speaker 1: sent us was regarding our thalidomide episode. He tweeted us 485 00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:19,080 Speaker 1: after part one came out and said something I hope 486 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:21,920 Speaker 1: you discussed an episode two is how the crisis led 487 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:26,040 Speaker 1: to women being virtually excluded from decades of medical testing 488 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:30,040 Speaker 1: and all the terrible downstream effects. Shocked to discover while 489 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 1: researching this Cracked article, I wrote a couple of years 490 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:35,120 Speaker 1: back and then sent us the link as well to 491 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 1: the article on Cracked. So at that point we had 492 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,960 Speaker 1: recorded an edited episode two, but it was not live yet, 493 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,360 Speaker 1: and we talked in that episode a little bit about 494 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:48,080 Speaker 1: how medical testing evolved in various ways that that affected 495 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 1: drug testing and medical ethics. We didn't talk about this 496 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,400 Speaker 1: specific aspect of it. It's one of those things where 497 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:58,240 Speaker 1: I had things in my notes about it and about 498 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,959 Speaker 1: especially how still today a lot of pharmaceutical testing is 499 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:05,640 Speaker 1: carried out on male test subjects, and then the dosages 500 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:08,760 Speaker 1: are kind of extrapolated from that based on body weight, 501 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:13,960 Speaker 1: which doesn't account for physiological sex differences at all. But 502 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:16,400 Speaker 1: there was so much stuff to cover in that episode 503 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:17,840 Speaker 1: and not enough time to get to all of it, 504 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 1: and that was one of the things that wound up 505 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:24,080 Speaker 1: being cut. So Yes, after the the litamide disaster, there 506 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:27,720 Speaker 1: was also another drug that was called die ethel stillbstrall 507 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,920 Speaker 1: or d S. This is a synthetic estrogen that was 508 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:34,960 Speaker 1: given during pregnancy to try to prevent miscarriages and premature labor. 509 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,560 Speaker 1: But not only was it not effective at preventing these things, 510 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:41,920 Speaker 1: that also caused issues for the developing fetus, including an 511 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: increased risk of some cancers of the reproductive system and 512 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:50,880 Speaker 1: fertility and reproductive issues later in life, especially among women. 513 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:53,680 Speaker 1: Some of these issues can also be passed down to 514 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:58,120 Speaker 1: their children. So after these two issues, in seven, the 515 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:02,080 Speaker 1: FDA issued a guideline called General Considerations for the Clinical 516 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:06,880 Speaker 1: Evaluation of Drugs and it recommended excluding quote pre menopausal 517 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 1: females capable of becoming pregnant from all phase one and 518 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:14,480 Speaker 1: early phase two clinical studies. And that guidance didn't really 519 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:20,800 Speaker 1: change until three So that's more than twenty years of 520 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:24,360 Speaker 1: of female patients being completely excluded from this kind of 521 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,840 Speaker 1: testing and even now, uh, I mean it's been now 522 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:32,320 Speaker 1: decades since that happened. Female patients are way underrepresented in 523 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:36,120 Speaker 1: drug testing and this has enormous and far reaching consequences 524 00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:40,000 Speaker 1: on what drugs are available and which adverse reactions are 525 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 1: caught ahead of time. It goes on and on. So 526 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,120 Speaker 1: thank you John for that. We also got a couple 527 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:50,560 Speaker 1: of emails that were also about um the the d 528 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:54,640 Speaker 1: e S drug disaster, which has not gotten as much attention, 529 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,280 Speaker 1: I think, as as the litamide has. So if you 530 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: would like to email us, we're history podcast at how 531 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:04,520 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. We're also all over social media. 532 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:08,240 Speaker 1: Missed in History. 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