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 --> 00:00:12,959 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome 3 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Hony Fry. 4 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:19,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to our two part episode about the time the 5 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: US Central Intelligence Agency orchestrated a coup to overthrow the 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: democratically elected president of Guatemala. In Part one, we gave 7 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 1: an overview of US policy as it related to Central America, 8 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: especially in particular, we talked about how it evolved in 9 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We also talked 10 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: about United Fruit Company and how it came to be 11 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: a major player in Guatemala and elsewhere. And then we 12 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 1: took a very brief look at Guatemala's history up to 13 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,519 Speaker 1: the presidency of Juan Jose are Below, who made just 14 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: sweeping reforms in Guatemala after being elected president after the 15 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: October Revolution. That was a lot to cover. I strongly 16 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:05,320 Speaker 1: recommend listening to part one before listening to this episode, 17 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: because that recap is just the tip of the iceberg 18 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: for an episode that also is a tip slightly larger 19 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: tip of the iceberg. At this point, United Fruit Company 20 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: was Guatemala's largest employer and its largest single landowner, and 21 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: it had a monopoly on the banana industry. United Fruit 22 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: Company also controlled the railroad and the port and the utilities, 23 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: and the United Fruit Company thought all of these changes 24 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:35,320 Speaker 1: that the Arrablow administration had made were threatening its business, 25 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: and as we'll talk about today, the CIA increasingly thought 26 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: they were evidence of a communist threat that needed to 27 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,840 Speaker 1: be dealt with. As we mentioned in Part one, Juan 28 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: Jose Avalo's administration started to struggle in its later years. 29 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: He faced increasing criticism, especially from Guatemala's elite, and he 30 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: weathered multiple coup attempts. One of his most vocal critics 31 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: increasingly became Colonel Francisco Arena. Arana had served in the 32 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: military during the Ubiko administration and had been part of 33 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:08,639 Speaker 1: the coup that overthrew his interim successor, General Frederico Pont. 34 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: He had also been part of the military junta that 35 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 1: had temporarily run Guatemala during part of the October Revolution. 36 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: From there, he had become Arrevalo's Chief of the armed Forces, 37 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: But Arana increasingly disagreed with a lot of Arravlo's labor reforms. 38 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: He finally resigned his position so that he could run 39 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:31,799 Speaker 1: for president once Arrablo's term was up, and he also 40 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 1: threatens to launch a coup, telling the president that he 41 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,239 Speaker 1: would be overthrown from office if he did not dismiss 42 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: his whole cabinet and replace them with men of Rana's choosing. 43 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:46,080 Speaker 1: After he did this, Arrablow informed his advisers of this plot, 44 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: and they all agreed that Rana should be exiled. What 45 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 1: happened next is actually not entirely clear, but on July 46 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: eighteenth nine, Arana was ambushed and killed. Arravloh had given 47 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: the order that he be apprehended, and Arana's key rival 48 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: for the presidency, Colonel Hacobo our Ben's gooseman, also knew 49 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: about the order, but it is not clear whether Arrevalo 50 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: ordered Aaranna captured or killed, who fired the first shot, 51 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 1: when it happened, or exactly what our bends knew about 52 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,919 Speaker 1: what was going on. Regardless, though this was an incredibly 53 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:26,079 Speaker 1: fragile moment for Guatemala's new democracy, an uprising spread through 54 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: Guatemala City, which involved Arona's military supporters. About a hundred 55 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: and fifty people were killed and two hundred were wounded 56 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: before the government regained control. The United States also became 57 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: a lot more wary of Guatemala's government and of Jacoba 58 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: are Ben's. So did United Fruit Company, and the following May, 59 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: United Fruit Company lobbyist Thomas Corcoran held his first meeting 60 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: to discuss a US overthrow of the Arbla presidency. Carcron 61 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: later became United Fruit Companies liaison to the CIA. On 62 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: November eleventh, ninety Cobo Arben's was elected president of Guatemala. 63 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: He got sixty five percent of the vote. He took 64 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 1: office in nineteen fifty one, and he started trying to 65 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: build on Arrevalo's earlier work and to solidify the changes 66 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: that had already been made. His administration also started trying 67 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: to get out from under United Fruit Companies multiple monopolies 68 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 1: by building a newport and a new highway to it 69 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: and a new electric plant. Yeah. So, even though there 70 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: had been all of this questionable like possible assassination previously, 71 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 1: like the fact that there was supposed to be a 72 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: democratic election and that it did happen and there was 73 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:40,839 Speaker 1: a peaceful transition of power, it was like still a 74 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:44,640 Speaker 1: really important moment in Guamal in history. Our Ben's also 75 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:48,160 Speaker 1: started trying to make the land reform that Arrablo had 76 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: started to go even further. Many of Arrablo's new policies 77 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: and programs had mostly affected the Guatemalan middle class, they 78 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:58,920 Speaker 1: had not as much affected the lives of the country's 79 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: poorest agriculture role workers. Are Beans thought the key to 80 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: improving these people's circumstances was a land redistribution program, which 81 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: would put more of the country's uncultivated land directly into 82 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: the hands of people who could farm it themselves. At 83 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: this point, sev of the land in Guatemala was controlled 84 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:21,920 Speaker 1: by two percent of the population. Of all the land 85 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 1: that was being controlled by major landowners, only one quarter 86 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: of it was actually being used to grow anything. United 87 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: Fruit Company was the largest single landowner in Guatemala, controlling 88 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,120 Speaker 1: the arable land but only cultivating ten to fifteen percent 89 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: of it. On top of that, in retaliation for the 90 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: changes in the Guatemalan government, United Fruit Company had started 91 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: laying off workers and refusing to rebuild banana plantations that 92 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: had been damaged in storms unless the government restored its 93 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: earlier concessions. In addition to being Guatemala's single largest landowner, 94 00:05:56,360 --> 00:06:00,919 Speaker 1: it was also Guatemala's largest single employer. Two thirds of 95 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: Guatemala's population was involved in agriculture in some way as well. 96 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: So this whole pattern of landownership where huge landowners were 97 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:12,839 Speaker 1: owning a lot of land but not growing anything on it, 98 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: was contributing to all kinds of problems, including poverty and malnutrition. 99 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 1: United Fruit Company and others claimed that they needed this 100 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: additional uncultivated land is basically a backup in case of 101 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: a major crop failure, but their critics claimed that this 102 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: uncultivated surplus was way more than they could possibly ever need. 103 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: Our Bendzes plan to fix this was Decree nine hundred, 104 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: which went into effect on June ninety two. Landowners who 105 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 1: had more than six hundred acres of uncultivated land were 106 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:48,040 Speaker 1: required to sell it to the Guatemalan government in exchange 107 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: for twenty five year interest bearing bonds. The tax value 108 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: of the land as of May nineteen fifty two was 109 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:58,480 Speaker 1: used to determine the selling price, so smaller farms under 110 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: two hundred twenty three acres were exempt from this, and 111 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: so were farms that were between two hundred twenty three 112 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: and six hundred seventy acres that were at least two 113 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: thirds cultivated. Farms that were fully cultivated were also unaffected, 114 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:15,320 Speaker 1: no matter how large the farm was. The terms of 115 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: this law actually required our Bends to relinquish some of 116 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: his own land, and someone else affected was Guierramotorreo, who 117 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: became our Ben's as foreign minister. Government owned land used 118 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: to grow coffee was also completely redistributed during this program 119 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 1: as well. The relinquished land would then be distributed to 120 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: landless people in forty two point five acre plots, either 121 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 1: so they would own it outright or so that they 122 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 1: would hold it for their lifetime. In the latter case, 123 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: the land couldn't pass directly to their heirs, but their 124 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: descendants would get preferential treatment when decisions were made about 125 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:53,000 Speaker 1: the land after their deaths. People who owned the land 126 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 1: outright would pay five percent of their annual crop value 127 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: to the government, and people who held it in a 128 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: lifetime tenure would pay threeper Since this law also established 129 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: committees that people who thought they were entitled to land 130 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: could petition and the committee would review their case and 131 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: make a decision. Every case had to be decided within 132 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 1: six weeks of submission, which was totally different from operating 133 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: under the more dictatorial government where you could ask for 134 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: something and then it would just never happen or be addressed. 135 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 1: A subsequent law also established a National Agrarian Bank to 136 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: issue fixed rate loans to land recipients to help them 137 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,200 Speaker 1: get their farms started. While this program was in effect, 138 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 1: one point five million acres of land were distributed to 139 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 1: about one hundred thousand families in Guatemala. This was probably 140 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:47,680 Speaker 1: between twenty and of the people who were eligible. The 141 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:51,679 Speaker 1: National Agrarian Bank and its newly established credit agency had 142 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: approved more than eleven million dollars in loans, an average 143 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:58,680 Speaker 1: of two hundred twenty five dollars per applicant. In the 144 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 1: fall of nineteen fifties three, the Guatemalan Embassy reported that 145 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 1: its corn production had increased by rice by seventy two 146 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:12,200 Speaker 1: and wheat, with much of the increase attributed to the 147 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: small farms started thanks to Decree nine hundred hit. It's 148 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: harder to track actually how this affected overall domestic crops 149 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: and export crops because this this did not last very long. 150 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: This program didn't, so it does seem like that like 151 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:32,600 Speaker 1: there were more crops that stayed in the country domestically 152 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:35,920 Speaker 1: and fewer crops that were exported for that first year, 153 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,600 Speaker 1: but some of that was also accounted for because of 154 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:42,559 Speaker 1: weather that affected coffee production. Like it's really complicated, but overall, 155 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 1: it does seem like people were using this land for 156 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: what it was supposed to be for, which was growing 157 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:53,559 Speaker 1: crops for themselves. In addition, more than half of Guatemala's 158 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: population was indigenous at this point, with most but not 159 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,440 Speaker 1: all of them belonging to one of more than twenty 160 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:04,319 Speaker 1: different Maya groups. Indigenous people made up the large majority 161 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:09,080 Speaker 1: of landless rural people, so this program was returning land 162 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:12,080 Speaker 1: to Guatemala's native people for the first time since the 163 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:15,960 Speaker 1: Spanish conquest. As was the case with earlier new programs, 164 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,440 Speaker 1: this wasn't perfect. There were cases of people who wanted 165 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:21,679 Speaker 1: more land than they were allotted, or who had not 166 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: been allotted land, commandeering land they weren't entitled to. There 167 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:29,000 Speaker 1: were also over zealous committees that seemed to want to 168 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:32,080 Speaker 1: settle the score after decades of being exploited by large 169 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: landowners who allotted more land than was really allowed, And 170 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:40,680 Speaker 1: it does appear that Guatemala's Ladino population received disproportionately more 171 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 1: land allotments than other ethnic groups overall, though this system 172 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,360 Speaker 1: gave previously landless people the opportunity to try to become 173 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: self sufficient farmers, and in nineteen fifty four, the Guatemalan 174 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,559 Speaker 1: government also rolled out a literacy program in these same 175 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:58,560 Speaker 1: rural areas, hoping to help the people who had received 176 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: this land become better able to manage it themselves long term. 177 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:04,960 Speaker 1: Two thirds of the land that was seized during all 178 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:08,679 Speaker 1: this belonged to United Fruit Company, which felt like it 179 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,680 Speaker 1: was being unfairly targeted by Decree nine hundred. On top 180 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: of that, the payment that was offered to United Fruit 181 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:17,840 Speaker 1: was far less than the market value of the land. 182 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:21,559 Speaker 1: Sources reported it as either six thirty thousand dollars or 183 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: about a million dollars. This was because the company had 184 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:29,360 Speaker 1: been artificially undervaluing its land for tax purposes, and reported 185 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,719 Speaker 1: tax value was what was being used to determine the payment. Nevertheless, 186 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:37,680 Speaker 1: the US government, on behalf of United Fruit Company, demanded 187 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:41,680 Speaker 1: a much higher payment of fifteen point nine million. Yes, 188 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:45,080 Speaker 1: so basically United Fruit Company was mad about a problem 189 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: they made for themselves in this situation. Yeah, they finally 190 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:52,359 Speaker 1: like their loophole finally got discovered and caught and exploited 191 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:56,200 Speaker 1: by someone else. Not even exploited, but like applied in 192 00:11:56,240 --> 00:12:00,520 Speaker 1: another way and then and then it hurt. Yes, so 193 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: as had been the case with so many of the 194 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:07,760 Speaker 1: array below administration's reforms. The United States and United Fruit 195 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:13,280 Speaker 1: Company criticized this whole land distribution program as communism, and 196 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: to be clear, this policy was influenced by Guatemala's communist party, 197 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 1: which was called the Guatemalan Workers Party or PGT, which 198 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:24,000 Speaker 1: lines up with how that translates into Spanish. One of 199 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:27,440 Speaker 1: the advisors who had helped draft Decree nine hundred was 200 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:31,000 Speaker 1: Jose Menuel Fortuny, who was our Ben's friend and also 201 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:34,559 Speaker 1: the PGT general secretary. Decree nine hundred had also been 202 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:37,320 Speaker 1: passed with the support of the Communist Party, which our 203 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:41,199 Speaker 1: Ben's had legalized after becoming president. Our Bends maintained that 204 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:44,360 Speaker 1: the communist presence in the Guatemalan government was small and 205 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 1: that he himself was dedicated to capitalism and democracy. One 206 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 1: of the stated goals of Decree nine hundred was to 207 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:54,559 Speaker 1: allow previously landless people to become part of the capitalist 208 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:59,360 Speaker 1: economy and to improve Guatemala's capitalist economy overall. And it 209 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:03,040 Speaker 1: doesn't appeared that the PGT had connections to the Soviet Union. 210 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:06,360 Speaker 1: Communism in Latin America at this point was more focused 211 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:11,240 Speaker 1: on upending dictatorships and getting out from under foreign capitalist interests, 212 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:15,160 Speaker 1: not on becoming Soviet allies. Yeah, the United States didn't 213 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 1: really care about this nuance regarding being a Soviet ally 214 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: versus being influenced by communism now and then also complicating 215 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:28,240 Speaker 1: US perceptions of this law. In February of nineteen fifty three, 216 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:32,600 Speaker 1: the Guatemalan Supreme Court found one of the laws provisions unconstitutional. 217 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:37,080 Speaker 1: The law outlined a dispute resolution process that ended with 218 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:39,720 Speaker 1: the President of the Republic instead of with the courts. 219 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:43,280 Speaker 1: So when the Supreme Court ordered that the land redistributions 220 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: stop until lower courts could hear the cases of land 221 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:51,920 Speaker 1: that had been allegedly expropriated illegally, Congress impeached the judges 222 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:55,080 Speaker 1: that had made that ruling, and then their replacements reversed 223 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:59,319 Speaker 1: the decision. Admittedly, this was squirrely. Critics in the United 224 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:01,559 Speaker 1: States pointed to it is evidence that our benz Is 225 00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:06,760 Speaker 1: administration was really a totalitarian regime. Regardless. In the midst 226 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:10,080 Speaker 1: of all of this, United Fruit Company had started advocating 227 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:14,480 Speaker 1: for the US Central Intelligence Agency to overthrow the urban's 228 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,440 Speaker 1: government and replace it with an administration that would be 229 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:21,760 Speaker 1: more sensitive to American influence and United Fruit Companies business. 230 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: We'll get to this whole CIA situation after a sponsor break. 231 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:36,479 Speaker 1: Like we said back before the break, a huge motivator 232 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: for the CIA's que and Guatemala was the idea that 233 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: Guatemala was about to fall under a very sinister communist influence, 234 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:47,600 Speaker 1: and a huge source of that idea was publicist and 235 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 1: propagandist Edward Burnet's folks have asked us to do an 236 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 1: episode on him. We might at some point. When folks 237 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 1: first started asking, one of our one of our other 238 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:00,360 Speaker 1: shows on our network had just done a three partner 239 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:02,720 Speaker 1: and that seemed a little excessive to have like that 240 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 1: much on the same network. But that was years ago now. 241 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: His relationship with the United Fruit Company went back to 242 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 1: about nineteen forty, and at first he had been focused 243 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:14,520 Speaker 1: on trying to improve the company's image in the Latin 244 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: American countries where it was operating because outside of the 245 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 1: wealthy elite that were benefiting the most from United Fruit 246 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,240 Speaker 1: Companies presence, people understandably did not have a very good 247 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:28,360 Speaker 1: opinion of it and called it a variety of disparaging nicknames, 248 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:32,520 Speaker 1: including the octopus. Vernees really wasn't all that successful at 249 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: shifting ordinary people's opinions of United Fruit Company in Central America, 250 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: but he was masterful at selling the idea that Guatemala 251 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 1: was under an immediate communist threat to the United States. 252 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,800 Speaker 1: For example, he brought journalists to Guatemala to conduct interviews 253 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 1: with a handpicked selection of United Fruit Company officials who 254 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:54,600 Speaker 1: talked all about how the country was about to collapse 255 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: under communism. He had arranged a whole press junket in 256 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 1: one with all of the interview us arranged through the 257 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:04,840 Speaker 1: United Fruit Company. They did none of the people he 258 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 1: arranged to come in talk to anyone else. They got 259 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: all their opinions from United Fruit. The CIA's first attempts 260 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,960 Speaker 1: to overthrow the Guatemalan government took place in nineteen fifty 261 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,960 Speaker 1: two under the administration of President Harry Truman, who's Truman doctor, 262 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,480 Speaker 1: and you might remember from part one. It was known 263 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: as Operation Fortune or Operation PB Fortune because of the 264 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 1: little prefix that goes in the beginnings of CIA code names. 265 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 1: This plan involved collaborating with Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Samosa to 266 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:39,000 Speaker 1: arm a rebellion led by disgruntled General Carlos Castillo Armas. 267 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 1: Castillo Armas had tried to lead a rebellion back in 268 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty and after escaping from prison afterward he had 269 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 1: become something of a folk hero. The CIA wound up 270 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 1: abandoning this operation afterward of it became public. Dwight D. 271 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: Eisenhower was inaugurated as President of the United States on 272 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 1: January twentieth, nineteen fifties three, and the next day he 273 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: pointed John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State. If you don't 274 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:05,680 Speaker 1: remember that name from part one. He was one of 275 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: the people who helped United Fruit Company negotiate multiple monopolies 276 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:13,880 Speaker 1: and other concessions in Guatemala during the nineteen thirties while 277 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:17,440 Speaker 1: working for the company's law firm Sullivan and Cromwell. This 278 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 1: was one of many connections between United Fruit Company and 279 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:26,400 Speaker 1: high placed figures in the US government. Dulles's brother, Alan Dulles, 280 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:29,679 Speaker 1: was the director of the CIA between nineteen fifty three 281 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:32,520 Speaker 1: and nineteen sixty one, and he had previously served on 282 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:36,080 Speaker 1: United Fruits Board of Directors during the years that we're 283 00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:39,879 Speaker 1: talking about today. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Was a senator 284 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 1: from Massachusetts and then an ambassador to the United Nations. 285 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,760 Speaker 1: The Lodge family was a major investor in United Fruit Company, 286 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 1: and he was nicknamed the Senator from United Fruit. These 287 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,520 Speaker 1: are just examples, so sometimes you'll see this whole thing 288 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:57,400 Speaker 1: framed as United Fruit Company got the CIA to overthrow 289 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:01,359 Speaker 1: the Guatemalan government, But really the United States was operating 290 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: under the idea that if one nation in a region 291 00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 1: became communist, all of its neighbors would follow, something Eisenhower 292 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,639 Speaker 1: described in terms of Southeast Asia in his Domino Theory 293 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:15,080 Speaker 1: speech the same year as the coup in Guatemala. So 294 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,399 Speaker 1: without the supposed threat of communism, the CIA might not 295 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:22,200 Speaker 1: have gotten involved in Guatemala, and with the supposed threat 296 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:26,000 Speaker 1: of communism, the CIA probably would have gotten involved even 297 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:28,840 Speaker 1: if United Fruit Company had not been part of the equation. 298 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: It is totally fair to note that a lot of 299 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:36,440 Speaker 1: the paranoia about communism in Guatemala was coming from public 300 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:41,160 Speaker 1: relations operations paid for by United Fruit though, yeah, jose 301 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,399 Speaker 1: Mn Wealth Fortuni later said they would have overthrown us 302 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:46,879 Speaker 1: even if we had grown no bananas, which I think 303 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 1: is accurate. So the CIA operation to orchestrate a coup 304 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:55,639 Speaker 1: in Guatemala was authorized in August of ninety three. It 305 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:59,480 Speaker 1: was code named Operations Success their Operation PP Success, and 306 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,520 Speaker 1: it was led by Colonel Albert Hainey. This time, the 307 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: idea was to create what looked like an uprising from 308 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:09,159 Speaker 1: within Guatemala, but with the uprising really being organized and 309 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:11,840 Speaker 1: directed by the CIA, with the fighting force that the 310 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 1: CIA recruited and trained mostly from Guatemalan's living in exile 311 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:20,280 Speaker 1: in Nicaragua. The CIA established a dummy company to supply 312 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:24,720 Speaker 1: weapons to this supposed liberation army. A dummy charitable foundation 313 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:29,119 Speaker 1: was also established to donate aircraft for a liberation air force, 314 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:33,520 Speaker 1: also organized by the CIA and flown by American pilots. 315 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: An anti government radio station called the Voice of Liberation 316 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:42,959 Speaker 1: started broadcasting propaganda and disinformation, reinforcing the idea that there 317 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:46,600 Speaker 1: was a huge popular uprising in the works from inside 318 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 1: of Guatemala. This is basically psychological warfare. The Voice of 319 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:55,200 Speaker 1: Liberation broadcast claimed to be transmitting from a secret location 320 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:58,040 Speaker 1: in Guatemala, but the only time it was actually doing that, 321 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:02,119 Speaker 1: it was broadcasting from inside the US embassy. Most of 322 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 1: the time the signals were really coming from Nicaragua. And 323 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:09,200 Speaker 1: occasionally from Dominican Republic or from Honduras. Several of these 324 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:12,800 Speaker 1: other governments were also opposed to the Urban's administration, both 325 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,400 Speaker 1: because of the reforms that he was rolling out, which 326 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:18,760 Speaker 1: sort of threatened the elite elsewhere, and also because he 327 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:23,200 Speaker 1: welcomed exiled revolutionaries from these other countries into Guatemala. The 328 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:27,040 Speaker 1: CIA once again chose Carlos Castio Armas as the leader 329 00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: of this uprising. They sneaked him into Florida to meet 330 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: with CIA Western Hemisphere chief J. C. King, where they 331 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:36,600 Speaker 1: went over the plan and what they expected in return, 332 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,440 Speaker 1: basically that Castio Armas returned all of the land that 333 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:44,080 Speaker 1: United Fruit Company had surrendered and rolled back other policies 334 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:48,560 Speaker 1: from the Urbans and Arrevalo administrations. In January of nineteen 335 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,919 Speaker 1: fifty four, a Panamanian courier informed our bands of this plot, 336 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:57,200 Speaker 1: including handing over a bunch of liberation army documents. On 337 00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:01,159 Speaker 1: January twenty nine, Guatemala newspapers sted publishing a lot of 338 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,199 Speaker 1: this material, and at this point the United States denied 339 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:08,720 Speaker 1: all involvement and called the reports ridiculous and untrue. But 340 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 1: in reality, the United States was just waiting for a 341 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:15,399 Speaker 1: clear reason to start their invasion. That whole progression of 342 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 1: foreign policy that we talked about in Part one had 343 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 1: led up to the idea that members of the Organization 344 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,440 Speaker 1: of American States could interfere in in other's affairs if 345 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 1: it was under the threat of quote communism or any 346 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:32,160 Speaker 1: totalitarian doctrine. To cover its basis, the US needed evidence 347 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,600 Speaker 1: of that threat. Meanwhile, the tenth Inter American Conference was 348 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 1: held in Caracas, Venezuela in March of nineteen fifty four. 349 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: On March twenty eight, the conference adopted the Caracas Declaration 350 00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:49,080 Speaker 1: of Solidarity, which condemned quote, activities of the International Communist 351 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 1: Movement as constituting intervention in American affairs. It also declared 352 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:57,840 Speaker 1: quote that the domination or control of the political institutions 353 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:01,399 Speaker 1: of any American state by the intern National Communist Movement 354 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:05,200 Speaker 1: extending to this hemisphere the political system of an extra 355 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:09,000 Speaker 1: continental power, would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and 356 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:13,400 Speaker 1: political independence of the American States, endangering the piece of America, 357 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,600 Speaker 1: and would call for a meeting of consultation to consider 358 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:21,160 Speaker 1: the adoption of appropriate action in accordance with existing treaties. 359 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: This declaration was intended to single out Guatemala, but without 360 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:29,600 Speaker 1: naming Guatemala, and of the nations in attendance, Guatemala was 361 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:32,760 Speaker 1: the only one to vote against it. To the US, 362 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:36,680 Speaker 1: this confirmed that communists had taken control of Guatemala, but 363 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:40,480 Speaker 1: it still wasn't evidence of an actual threat. Then, on 364 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,439 Speaker 1: May fifteenth, nineteen fifty four, a shipment of arms arrived 365 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:49,560 Speaker 1: in Guatemala, including rifles, ammunition, artillery, and anti tank weaponry. 366 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:53,560 Speaker 1: They had been purchased from Czechoslovakia, which was a communist 367 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:57,400 Speaker 1: country and part of the Soviet Bloc. Guatemala had previously 368 00:22:57,520 --> 00:22:59,919 Speaker 1: tried to buy arms from the United States, which had 369 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:03,080 Speaker 1: refused under the grounds that Guatemala had not signed the 370 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:07,360 Speaker 1: Rio Security Pact of nineteen forty seven. From there, Guatemala 371 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,560 Speaker 1: had tried to buy weapons from several other countries as well, 372 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,640 Speaker 1: all of them had refused, some of which under heavy 373 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:16,639 Speaker 1: pressure from the United States to do so. There were 374 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:19,960 Speaker 1: figures in Guatemala who felt like the US didn't pressure 375 00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 1: Czechoslovakia into saying no because they were hoping for this 376 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:27,560 Speaker 1: kind of evidence. Basically, though Guatemala had gone to Czechoslovakia 377 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:31,200 Speaker 1: as a last resort, US intelligence had learned about the 378 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:34,639 Speaker 1: potential deal in nineteen fifties three, but allowed it to 379 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:38,200 Speaker 1: go forward, hoping to intercept the shipment en route and 380 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,440 Speaker 1: use it as evidence of Soviet collusion. Part of that 381 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,399 Speaker 1: plan involved using the shipment as evidence that Our Bends 382 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,359 Speaker 1: was arming a militia to fight against the Guatemalan Army. 383 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: Our Bends maintained that he was just resupplying the Guatemalan army, 384 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,560 Speaker 1: but the United States cited this as proof that the 385 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:58,760 Speaker 1: Soviet Union was propping up a communist regime. The US 386 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:02,239 Speaker 1: did not successfully intercept this shipment on the way as 387 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 1: they had hoped it basically the last track of it. 388 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,800 Speaker 1: But also these weapons weren't that useful once they arrived 389 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 1: in Guatemala. A lot of the rifles didn't work. There 390 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,200 Speaker 1: were not any tanks in Central America. For these anti 391 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:18,879 Speaker 1: tank weapons to be used against the artillery. Pieces needed 392 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,639 Speaker 1: an extensive network of improved roads to really be useful, 393 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,000 Speaker 1: and Guatemala didn't really have that at this point. None 394 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,400 Speaker 1: of that really mattered. The fact that it had come 395 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 1: from Czechoslovakia was the evidence that the United States wanted 396 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: to justify this queue. And we're going to talk about 397 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,200 Speaker 1: how all of this finally played out. After we pause 398 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:48,680 Speaker 1: for another sponsor break. The United States stepped up this 399 00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 1: operation on May seventeenth, with Eisenhower blockading Guatemala and the 400 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,040 Speaker 1: Liberation Army organizing from Honduras. They used as one of 401 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:01,879 Speaker 1: their base of operations. United Fruit Company Company Town Flyover 402 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:06,960 Speaker 1: started on with planes dropping leaflets warning the Guatemalan public 403 00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:10,840 Speaker 1: of these supposed secret plans and encouraging the Guatemalan military 404 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:14,480 Speaker 1: to turn on the president. The Voice of Liberation broadcast 405 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 1: false reports about an increasingly large army of rebels that 406 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,399 Speaker 1: was taking on new recruits as it moved. Our Ben's 407 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,160 Speaker 1: demanded that horn Duras put a stop to the Liberation 408 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:27,960 Speaker 1: Army's organization within its borders, and the United States started 409 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:31,200 Speaker 1: using the pretext of sending military aid to horn Duras 410 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: and Mexico to funnel weapons towards this manufactured uprising. By 411 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 1: early June, the CIA's ongoing efforts to destabilize the Guatemalan 412 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:44,320 Speaker 1: government had led to increasing unrest, including plots against the 413 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:48,600 Speaker 1: government from within. On June three, military officers tried to 414 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,199 Speaker 1: convince our Bends that for the good of the country, 415 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: he should purge all communists from his administration, but he refused. 416 00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:00,159 Speaker 1: Five days later, our Bends suspended civil Liberties site the 417 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: National Emergency. Throughout all of this, government officials and the 418 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: media and the United States were warning of an insidious 419 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 1: communist threat in Guatemala, with John Foster Dulls calling the 420 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:16,000 Speaker 1: Guatemalan government a quote communist type reign of terror. The 421 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:20,920 Speaker 1: actual invasion began on June eighteenth, four after all the 422 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:25,040 Speaker 1: ongoing propaganda efforts. The CIA was expecting the Guatemalan people 423 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:27,960 Speaker 1: to rise up and side with the invasion, but that 424 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:33,000 Speaker 1: didn't really happen. The Liberation Army faced repeated defeats. Three 425 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,399 Speaker 1: additional aircraft were deployed to provide more air support, but 426 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:39,520 Speaker 1: two of them were shot down. Arvins placed the army 427 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,240 Speaker 1: and the police on alert, but he didn't actually deploy them. 428 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: He was afraid that if he did, it would just 429 00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: look like the US propaganda was right about what was 430 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 1: happening in Guatemala. Foreign Minister Guerrero Torreo recommended that Guatemala 431 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,440 Speaker 1: go through formal channels to address this. He met with 432 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:01,360 Speaker 1: John Parafoy, who was the US ambassador to Guatemala, who 433 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:04,640 Speaker 1: of course knew exactly what was going on. He also 434 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: contacted the U N Security Council and the Inter American 435 00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,680 Speaker 1: Peace Committee of the Organization of American States for support. 436 00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: Torrieo denounced the accusations that Guatemala had become a communist 437 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,440 Speaker 1: country and asked for a ceasefire and for Honduran and 438 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:25,720 Speaker 1: Nicaraguan forces to be removed from Guatemala. On the US 439 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: planes flying over Guatemala progressed from dropping leaflets to also 440 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:34,520 Speaker 1: strafing and dropping bombs on Guatemalan buildings, including gas and 441 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:38,639 Speaker 1: oil storage depots. Guatemala didn't have much of an air 442 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,560 Speaker 1: force that could respond. All of its planes had been 443 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:45,679 Speaker 1: built before ninety six, and our Bends ultimately grounded them 444 00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: out of concerns over whether the pilots were still loyal 445 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,720 Speaker 1: to him. On that night of the nineteenth, are Bens 446 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: gave a radio address calling what was happening an armed invasion, 447 00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:00,160 Speaker 1: and he said, quote, our only crime consisted of decreeing 448 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:04,000 Speaker 1: our own laws and applying them to all without exception. 449 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:08,280 Speaker 1: Our crime is having enacted an agrarian reform which affected 450 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 1: the interests of the United Fruit Company. Our crime is 451 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:13,680 Speaker 1: wanting to have our own route to the Atlantic, our 452 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:17,359 Speaker 1: own electric power, and our own docs and ports. Our 453 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,760 Speaker 1: crime is our patriotic wish to advance, to progress, to 454 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:25,399 Speaker 1: win economic independence to match our political independence. We are 455 00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:29,359 Speaker 1: condemned because we have given our peasant population land and rights. 456 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:33,120 Speaker 1: The air attacks continued and our bends declared martial law. 457 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:37,440 Speaker 1: On June twenty, Guatemala continued appealing to the United Nations 458 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 1: for aid, where Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, whose family owned 459 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 1: stock in United Fruit, was head of the Security Council. 460 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:47,840 Speaker 1: After a lengthy debate, the U n Security Council determined 461 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: that this was a matter for the Organization of American States, which, 462 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: as we noted earlier, was heavily influenced by the United States. 463 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: The Soviet Union voted against this, correctly concluding that the 464 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 1: US was involved in what was happening in Guatemala. After 465 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:07,680 Speaker 1: days of bombings and attacks and ongoing propaganda both within 466 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:11,800 Speaker 1: and outside of Guatemala, the United States started publicly supporting 467 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: Custio Armas and the Liberation Army. The Voice of Liberation 468 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:19,120 Speaker 1: sorted broadcasting reports of all kinds of successful attacks by 469 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:23,160 Speaker 1: the Liberation Army which weren't actually happening. It also reported 470 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,600 Speaker 1: that Castile Armas's force was growing at an astounding rate, 471 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,200 Speaker 1: even though he was in command of about four hundred 472 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:33,080 Speaker 1: people at the most. The international news media also picked 473 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,560 Speaker 1: up these stories and reported them as fact. In the 474 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:38,360 Speaker 1: midst of all of this, an American plane bombed a 475 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:42,000 Speaker 1: British freighter at the request of Nicaragua, which claimed it 476 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:46,200 Speaker 1: was carrying gasoline to refuel our benz Is military. It 477 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 1: turned out to be carrying only bananas and cotton, and 478 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 1: the CIA paid off its insurer. As it became clear 479 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 1: that the United States was backing Caustio Armas and the 480 00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:59,800 Speaker 1: Liberation Army, a wave of anti American sentiment started to 481 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:04,120 Speaker 1: row within and outside of Guatemala, including in numerous nations 482 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: in Central and South America and the Caribbean. Argentinean revolutionary 483 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,440 Speaker 1: che Guvara had traveled to Guatemala to see the ongoing 484 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: reforms that were going on there, and he was actually 485 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:19,080 Speaker 1: there when this que took place. His first wife, Hilda Gaya, 486 00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: later said quote it was Guatemala which finally convinced him 487 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 1: of the necessity for armed struggle and for taking the 488 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:30,640 Speaker 1: initiative against imperialism. By June, our Ben's was losing the 489 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,160 Speaker 1: support of the Guatemala military. He recognized that there was 490 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:36,960 Speaker 1: no way he could go up against the United States directly. 491 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,400 Speaker 1: He resigned on June, and his radio address announcing this, 492 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 1: our Ben's pointed out the roles of the United States 493 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,200 Speaker 1: and the United Fruit Company and all of this, saying quote, 494 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:50,200 Speaker 1: I took over the presidency with great faith in the 495 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:54,680 Speaker 1: democratic system, in liberty, and in the possibility of achieving 496 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: economic independence for Guatemala. I continue to believe that this 497 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,800 Speaker 1: program is just. I have not violated my faith in 498 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:05,360 Speaker 1: democratic liberties and the independence of Guatemala, and in all 499 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,640 Speaker 1: the good which is the future of humanity. One day, 500 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 1: the obscured forces which today oppressed the backward in colonial 501 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:16,080 Speaker 1: world will be defeated. I will continue to be, despite everything, 502 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:18,920 Speaker 1: a fighter for the liberty and progress of my country. 503 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:22,560 Speaker 1: He took refuge in the Mexican embassy. From there he 504 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,680 Speaker 1: was offered refuge in Czechoslovakia, and then he traveled to 505 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: several other countries before returning to Mexico and dying there 506 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:32,840 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy one. Arbenza's speech was a totally different 507 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:35,080 Speaker 1: tone from the one that was delivered by U S 508 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:39,480 Speaker 1: Secretary of State Dullest on June nineteen fifty four, and 509 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,240 Speaker 1: that speech set in part quote, they exposed the evil 510 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:45,480 Speaker 1: purpose of the Kremlin to destroy the inter American system, 511 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,320 Speaker 1: and they test the ability of the American states to 512 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:52,959 Speaker 1: maintain the peaceful integrity of this hemisphere. For several years now, 513 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:56,840 Speaker 1: international communism has been probing here and there for nesting 514 00:31:56,920 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: places in the Americas. It finally chose Guatemala as a 515 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,560 Speaker 1: spot which it could turn into an official base from 516 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,440 Speaker 1: which to breed subversion which would extend to the other 517 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:11,440 Speaker 1: American republics. This intrusion of Soviet despotism was, of course, 518 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:14,520 Speaker 1: a direct challenge to the Monroe Doctrine, the first and 519 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 1: most fundamental of our foreign policies. Later in the same speech, 520 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:20,880 Speaker 1: Dellis said, quote, it was not the power of the 521 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 1: Urbans government that concerned us, but the power behind it. 522 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 1: If world communism captured any American state, however small, a 523 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:31,160 Speaker 1: new and periless front it established, which will increase the 524 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:34,880 Speaker 1: dangers of the entire free world and require even greater 525 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: sacrifices from the American people. There is continued to be 526 00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:41,720 Speaker 1: debate about exactly what role communism played in the Outer 527 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:45,640 Speaker 1: Bends administration. At the time, the Guatemalan Workers Party was 528 00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:49,280 Speaker 1: the nation's smallest political party, and the number of Communist 529 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:53,440 Speaker 1: Party members in the Guatemalan government was also small. For example, 530 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:56,200 Speaker 1: of the fifty six members of Congress, four of them 531 00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 1: were Communists. At the same time, several of those positions 532 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:04,520 Speaker 1: were particularly influential, including the President's personal secretary and the 533 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:07,960 Speaker 1: President of Congress. There were also members of the party 534 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 1: in prominent positions outside of the government, including some of 535 00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:15,560 Speaker 1: Guatemala's largest labor unions. Regardless, though, what was happening in 536 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,640 Speaker 1: Guatemala doesn't really align with the propaganda that became part 537 00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:23,000 Speaker 1: of the justification for this intervention. When he stepped down 538 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:27,080 Speaker 1: our bends handed over power to Colonel Carlos Enrique Diaz, 539 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:29,960 Speaker 1: who was chief of the Guatemalan Armed Forces of the Republic, 540 00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:33,080 Speaker 1: Diaz became part of a three man ruling junto, with 541 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:37,520 Speaker 1: Diaz announcing that he was committed to continuing his predecessor's work, 542 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 1: so the CIA started trying to figure out how to 543 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:45,920 Speaker 1: remove him from power as well. Ultimately, disputes arose among 544 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,680 Speaker 1: the stunto, which was then replaced with a whole different 545 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,840 Speaker 1: three man team. It was a very chaotic few days. 546 00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:55,560 Speaker 1: This team traveled to El Salvador to negotiate a piece 547 00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:59,600 Speaker 1: with Castillo Armas, who ultimately became the next president of Guatemala. 548 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:03,440 Speaker 1: Castillo Armas denounced communism and promised that he would not 549 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 1: roll back the social gains of the previous administration. Then, 550 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:10,720 Speaker 1: on October tenth, nineteen fifty four, he was elected president 551 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:14,840 Speaker 1: while running unopposed. Once he was in power, he repealed 552 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:20,400 Speaker 1: the nineteen constitution. He abolished the previous administration's land reforms, 553 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:24,200 Speaker 1: returning all the expropriated land back to the United Fruit 554 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:28,600 Speaker 1: Company and other landowners. He rolled back the earlier expansions 555 00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:31,359 Speaker 1: of voting rights, and he restored the Catholic Church's right 556 00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:35,600 Speaker 1: to own property and teach religion in public schools. Castillo 557 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:40,240 Speaker 1: Armas also outlawed labor organizations and political parties, and restored 558 00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:43,360 Speaker 1: Jorgeo Bico's chief of secret police to his former position. 559 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:48,080 Speaker 1: Seven prominent labor organizers were also murdered on July one, 560 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:52,200 Speaker 1: at the United States request. Castillo Armas also established a 561 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:57,120 Speaker 1: National Committee of Defense against Communism in Guatemala. In ninetifty eight, 562 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,839 Speaker 1: Castio Armas was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards. 563 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 1: His successor was General Miguel Idiros Fuentes, a rebellion to 564 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,759 Speaker 1: overthrow his dictatorial regime in nineteen sixty was the start 565 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:13,120 Speaker 1: of the Guatemalan Civil War, which lasted for thirty six years. 566 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:17,040 Speaker 1: In spite of the ongoing civil rights abuses of the 567 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:21,480 Speaker 1: Fuentist regime and his predecessor, Castile or Masses, and the 568 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:25,200 Speaker 1: abuses of the Guatemalan military, the United States backed the 569 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:29,279 Speaker 1: military throughout this civil war through varying degrees through the 570 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:32,319 Speaker 1: various presidential administrations that were in power during the thirty 571 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:35,000 Speaker 1: six years that it went on. This all circles back 572 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:37,920 Speaker 1: to the idea of it being acceptable to intervene in 573 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:41,400 Speaker 1: another American nations affairs if there's a threat within or 574 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:45,839 Speaker 1: without of communist or authoritarian influence. The United States made 575 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:48,719 Speaker 1: it a policy for decades to back these kinds of 576 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:52,640 Speaker 1: dictatorial regimes, regardless of their human or civil rights record, 577 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:56,080 Speaker 1: as long as those regimes were anti communist. More than 578 00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:59,439 Speaker 1: two hundred thousand people were killed during the Guatemalan Civil War, 579 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:02,319 Speaker 1: and is in a country with a population of only 580 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:05,480 Speaker 1: about ten million at the end of the war. According 581 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:10,800 Speaker 1: to a United Nations Historical Clarification Commission, three percent of 582 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:13,960 Speaker 1: those killed were indigenous Maya killed at the hands of 583 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:17,880 Speaker 1: the Guatemalan military or militia which were being supported, supplied, 584 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:21,040 Speaker 1: and trained by the United States. Even though the war 585 00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:26,160 Speaker 1: officially ended in violence and instability continued to be issues 586 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:30,239 Speaker 1: in Guatemala today. President Bill Clinton was in Guatemala not 587 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,960 Speaker 1: long after this Historical Clarification Commission report was published and said, quote, 588 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,440 Speaker 1: it is important that I state clearly that support for 589 00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:41,480 Speaker 1: military forces or intelligence units which engaged in violent and 590 00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:46,120 Speaker 1: widespread repression of the kind described and the report was wrong, 591 00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:49,080 Speaker 1: and the United States must not repeat that mistake. We 592 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,040 Speaker 1: must and we will instead continue to support the peace 593 00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:57,920 Speaker 1: and reconciliation process in Guatemala. Guatemalan President Alvado Colombe offered 594 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,879 Speaker 1: his own statement in twenty eleven, say quote, that day 595 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:04,560 Speaker 1: changed Guatemala and we have not recuperated from it yet. 596 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,520 Speaker 1: It was a crime to Guatemalan society, and it was 597 00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:11,040 Speaker 1: an act of aggression to a government starting its democratic spring. 598 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:15,720 Speaker 1: The ongoing economic, social, and political issues affecting Guatemala today 599 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,880 Speaker 1: are a direct result of all of this. And like 600 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:21,440 Speaker 1: we said at various points on this show, this kind 601 00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:25,000 Speaker 1: of US intervention was not unique to Guatemala, especially during 602 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,879 Speaker 1: the Cold War, when the US made numerous other interventions 603 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:33,480 Speaker 1: in other Latin American countries as well, including providing weapons, training, 604 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:37,120 Speaker 1: and other support to dictorial regimes. Uh And what was 605 00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:40,880 Speaker 1: unique though, to Guatemala was the directions, scope and overall 606 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 1: success of all these reforms before the US intervened. In 607 00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:48,680 Speaker 1: other words, the migrant crisis that is currently happening at 608 00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:52,480 Speaker 1: the United States southern border is directly connected to decades 609 00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:56,800 Speaker 1: of US interventions in Latin America, including this one. Also, 610 00:37:57,120 --> 00:38:00,560 Speaker 1: United Fruit Company went through an antitrust suit and ultimately 611 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:04,440 Speaker 1: sold its land in Guatemala to Del Monte. After a 612 00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:08,160 Speaker 1: couple of corporate transitions, United Fruit Company is now Taquda 613 00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:12,319 Speaker 1: Brands International. The company's history page traces its roots back 614 00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:15,280 Speaker 1: to United Fruit Company, but the timeline of its history 615 00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:19,399 Speaker 1: on the company's website skips the nineteen fifties entirely. Yeah, 616 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:21,520 Speaker 1: a few years ago, there was a Stuff You Should 617 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:24,640 Speaker 1: Know live show that was about the history of not 618 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,120 Speaker 1: the history was about how public relations work, I think 619 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:28,680 Speaker 1: is what they called it. And I saw that live 620 00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:33,800 Speaker 1: show here, and when they mentioned Taquita, some people cheered. 621 00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:37,440 Speaker 1: Josh Clark was like, you're gonna want to take that 622 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:40,280 Speaker 1: back if you don't know any of this history. Everybody 623 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:42,280 Speaker 1: loves the banana, you know what I mean, Like everybody 624 00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:45,280 Speaker 1: loves a little cartoon banana lady. I understand that impulse, 625 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:50,160 Speaker 1: but it is made without the full picture. Absolutely yeah, 626 00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:52,160 Speaker 1: because the next thing that they talked about was this 627 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:57,360 Speaker 1: whole overthrow of the Guatemalan government at the hands of 628 00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:02,520 Speaker 1: the United States Central Intelligence Agency, not necessarily influenced but 629 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:07,759 Speaker 1: definitely strongly advocated for by United Fruit Company, whose policies 630 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,400 Speaker 1: were the start of the land reforms that got everybody's 631 00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:16,040 Speaker 1: attention in the first place. Anyway, that's a not the 632 00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:19,200 Speaker 1: most fun episode, though it is important information. But I'm 633 00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:22,680 Speaker 1: hoping you have maybe slightly more delightful listener mail. I 634 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:25,520 Speaker 1: have listener mail that is from Lauren. It does not 635 00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:30,640 Speaker 1: hark back to a more fun episode, but it's content 636 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:35,560 Speaker 1: is is interesting and and cool. So Lauren writes, Dear 637 00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:38,080 Speaker 1: Tracy and Holly, I just wanted to write and say 638 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:40,400 Speaker 1: thank you for your awesome podcast. I love the quality 639 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:43,040 Speaker 1: and variety of your shows and your excellent presentation style, 640 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:44,800 Speaker 1: and I've recommended you to a lot of my friends. 641 00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:48,080 Speaker 1: I was really interested in your recent the Litamide shows. 642 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:51,320 Speaker 1: I'm a medical historian and was previously a curator of 643 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:54,200 Speaker 1: a medical museum where I cared for a large collection 644 00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:58,239 Speaker 1: of disability prosthetics. We were working with Leicester University to 645 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:01,160 Speaker 1: discuss how we could better We're with the disabled community 646 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:04,400 Speaker 1: to represent their stories, not just approach the collection from 647 00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:07,760 Speaker 1: a medical model of disability. As part of our project, 648 00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:11,719 Speaker 1: we hosted a performance of Cabinet of Curiosities, How Disability 649 00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:13,960 Speaker 1: Was Kept in a Box, which was developed by the 650 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:17,440 Speaker 1: wonderful artist and actor Matt Fraser, who has the litamied 651 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:21,040 Speaker 1: induced Folk Amelia. Matt worked with medical museums in the 652 00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:24,600 Speaker 1: UK to explore the disability histories which he brought out 653 00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:27,960 Speaker 1: in the performance. There's a performance available on the Museum 654 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:32,040 Speaker 1: Association website. Lauren gives us a link and it's well 655 00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:34,400 Speaker 1: worth a watch. It is such a wonderful piece. But 656 00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:36,920 Speaker 1: the one part which struck me was the video mat 657 00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:39,040 Speaker 1: chaired of a child who was put in a pair 658 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:42,120 Speaker 1: of gas powered prosthetic legs and arms. It's at about 659 00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:45,480 Speaker 1: fifty three minutes, and the performance and the vulnerability of 660 00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:48,600 Speaker 1: placing this young person in such a device, it really 661 00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:52,080 Speaker 1: caused me to question how I interpreted such prosthetic devices. 662 00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:55,120 Speaker 1: For audiences in the museum. Obviously, there are people who 663 00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,560 Speaker 1: thrive and rely on prosthetics. However, the medical model of 664 00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:02,360 Speaker 1: disability attempting to fix people can also create new problems. 665 00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:04,200 Speaker 1: This new state of course in your show, which is 666 00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:06,880 Speaker 1: great to hear. I just thought you guys might find 667 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:10,000 Speaker 1: the show interesting. Thank you both again for such a 668 00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:13,200 Speaker 1: great podcast. I'll be continuing to listen and welcome any 669 00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:16,680 Speaker 1: future medical shows in the future with very best wishes. Lauren. 670 00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:19,719 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for this email. Lauren. I have 671 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:22,480 Speaker 1: not had the chance to watch this whole video yet, 672 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:24,799 Speaker 1: but we are going to put it into the show 673 00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:28,399 Speaker 1: notes for folks who may be interested to be able 674 00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:30,959 Speaker 1: to check it out. Thank you so much for sending 675 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:33,440 Speaker 1: it and for sending this email. I love to hear 676 00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:37,360 Speaker 1: from museum curators and other people who whose work involves 677 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:41,399 Speaker 1: similarly to what we do, attempting to put historical things 678 00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:45,160 Speaker 1: into context for the general public. Yes, I also uh 679 00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:47,600 Speaker 1: love Matt Freezer. I was introduced to him he was 680 00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:50,640 Speaker 1: on the season of American Horror Story that was called 681 00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:52,960 Speaker 1: Freak Show, and he was amazing, and then I was like, 682 00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:55,200 Speaker 1: I want to see everything he does because he's such 683 00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:58,000 Speaker 1: a good actor. Um, so I'm glad that he's getting 684 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:01,440 Speaker 1: a little more love. I well watched that season of 685 00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:04,960 Speaker 1: American Horror Story, and I did not connect the person 686 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:07,959 Speaker 1: in the name. Um. Even having started to watch the video, 687 00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:11,960 Speaker 1: I didn't put it all together. Uh, so, thank you, Lauren. 688 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,239 Speaker 1: In spite of the various op eds that seem to 689 00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:18,439 Speaker 1: be written like every couple or three weeks and start 690 00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:21,000 Speaker 1: floating around Twitter, historians are doing a lot of work 691 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:27,279 Speaker 1: engaging with the public everybody, historians and museum curators and 692 00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:31,239 Speaker 1: archivists and all kinds of folks. Uh, you're thinking about 693 00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:34,000 Speaker 1: writing an op ed about how historians aren't engaging with 694 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:37,759 Speaker 1: the public, maybe like Google that they read the things 695 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,160 Speaker 1: that people have already said about it, and then the 696 00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:43,080 Speaker 1: many responses about how that's not actually all that accurate. 697 00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:44,880 Speaker 1: I think some of that, too, is that people have 698 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:46,959 Speaker 1: one idea of what a historian is in their head, 699 00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:50,640 Speaker 1: and they think if that person isn't somehow in the 700 00:42:50,719 --> 00:42:54,200 Speaker 1: public eye, that historians aren't out there doing the world. Uh. 701 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:56,600 Speaker 1: We have an upcoming interview that I'm hoping will help 702 00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:59,560 Speaker 1: to spell some of this. Oh nice, I'm very happy 703 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:03,360 Speaker 1: about that. Yeah, Holly's in my work is deeply reliant 704 00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:06,200 Speaker 1: on the work of historians who are putting things out 705 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:09,359 Speaker 1: for the public all the time. Yes, so you would 706 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:10,799 Speaker 1: like to write to us about this or any other 707 00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:13,359 Speaker 1: podcast or a history podcast at how Stuff Works dot com. 708 00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:16,279 Speaker 1: We're also all over social media Missed in History. You 709 00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:19,480 Speaker 1: will find us there at Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter, 710 00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:23,319 Speaker 1: and you can come to our website, which is Missed 711 00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:25,560 Speaker 1: in History dot com. The show notes for this episode 712 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:27,560 Speaker 1: will include the link that we just talked about, as 713 00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:30,359 Speaker 1: well as all of the sources for this episode, which 714 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:34,520 Speaker 1: include C I A D classified documents acknowledging all this stuff. 715 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:37,800 Speaker 1: We did not make it up. You can also subscribe 716 00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:40,200 Speaker 1: to our show on Apple podcasts, the I heart Radio app, 717 00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:47,520 Speaker 1: and anywhere else you get your podcasts. Stuff You Missed 718 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:49,880 Speaker 1: in History Class is a production of I Heart Radio's 719 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:52,799 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, 720 00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:55,840 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever 721 00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:57,400 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.