Allen Dulles, CIA Director and United Fruit Stock holder at the time of Guatemalan Coup d'etat

-TIME Cover (Artzybysheff)

"In August 1953, the Operation Coordinating Board directed CIA to assume responsiblity for operations against the Arbenz regime."

-CIA's Role in the Overthrow of Arbenz

 "Allen Welsh Dulles must, along with the President and the defense chiefs, construct policy toward the enemy out of the information brought in by Allen's Central Intelligence Agency. Because the Communist tyranny is conducted behind the thickest cloak of secrecy and deceit the modern world has ever known, a high proportion of the information about this enemy is of the hard-to-get variety." 

-Time Magazine on Allen Dulles August 1953

"American public opinion still fails to understand why Guatemala is ruled by a pseudo-democratic government system managed by communists and pro-communists headed by the upstart Colonel Jacabo Arbenz Guzman."

-Alberto Daniel Faleroni (Boletin del Ceuage)

"Prepare a list of the 25 most dangerous Communists and pro-communists with info appropriate for use in character assassination. Forward all anti-communst propaganda to Hq. with details of distibution, any reactions, etc. Send, biweekly, negatives with captions to portray miserable conditions in Guatemala."

-Progress Report Psychological Warfare 1953

Anti-communist student newspaper ​​​​​​​Boletin del Ceuage published in Honduras December 1953

First, they targeted the American people with a wave of propaganda to justify U.S. intervention.  Edward Bernays spearheaded the operation. Taking advantage of the current political climate, Bernays barraged Americans  with anti-Communist propaganda. This form of communication would appear to justify the coup d'etat as a politically motivated plot, instead of an economically motivated disruption of democracy. (Schlesinger 99) Arbenz’s legalization of the Socialist Party in 1952 and his previously mentioned land reforms were put into the spotlight. (Schlesinger 58-59)

"Bernays, widely acknowledged as one of the shrewdest public relations experts alive, laid out his plans... Bernays warned of a dire future for United Fruit. Communist-inspired movements were going to "spread in Middle America," he predicted. Only if  the Fruit Company alerted Americans now, he continued, might the U.S. government,"take steps to improve the situation."

-Stephen Schlesinger in Bitter Fruit 

"Attempt to place men in the enlisted and officer ranks in each key military installation for the purpose of assuring the spread of rumors. All complaints and rumors should carry one theme --- "The [Guatemalan] Government is letting the Communists rule and the only way to solve all problems is to get rid of the Government and the Communists"

"RUFUS (Castillo Arman) PW teams will study already present discontent and find means for making it flourish. Special attention should be given to the creating of discontent among the unemployed, peones, laboroes, students, and enlisted men. Such propaganda should be used sporadically throughout Guatemala..."

"Prepare a letter which will be sent to selected key army officers that the Guatemalan Government does not trust them. The letter will claim that certain Communist politicians and labor leaders have recieved arms. Prepare another letter to be mailed later - which cites where and to whom arms have been dilivered and invites covert investigation on the part of the officers to prove that they have been betrayed."

"Prepare an alleged "Communist Plan for Overthrowal of the Guatemalan Government" --- complete with dates, names and places."

"This is the clandestine transmitter Radio Liberation operating on its short wave frequency of 6370 khz from a secret place within the Republic. Listen to us and you will know the reality of the political movement that Guatemala is going through and the irrefutable progress of the great liberation movement. During our broadcasts you will hear music, commentaries and news in general and demonstrate clearly the crimes of the communist domination and the uncontained force of the Guatemalan liberation movement."

-The Voice of Liberation Intro 1954

The Voice of Liberation was a vital piece of pyschological warfare utilized by the CIA. This radio broadcast was run by Guatemalan exiles in Miami. (Cullather 75) With the spewing of this propaganda, the CIA was successful in highly demoralizing troops and civilians stationed and living in Guatemala City. Their pyschological warfare proved effective in communicating to Guatemalans that Arbenz was a tyrannical Communist dictator being liberated by Castillo Armas. (Schlesinger 185)

With the invasion into Guatemala beginning on the morning of June 15, 1954, U.S. Army air bombardments were necessary support. Through the following days, Armas's forces moved closer and closer to Guatemala City. Broadcasts from the "Voice of Liberation" still rang through the air. (Cullather 109)

"Gautemala Station reported that the city was "clearing rapidly". Cars, carts, tearing to outskirts. Fear, expectations spreading."

-Nick Cullather in Secret History

"[Voice of Liberation] Fabricated reports of large troop movement, fearsome battles, major Guatemalan defeats and growing rebel strenght frightened an already confused and disheartened populace."

-Stephen Schlesinger in Bitter Fruit 

"...the "Voice of Liberation" was broadcasting breathless reports of Castillo Armas's supposed swift progress throught the countryside. Two CIA planes buzzed low over the main military barracks in Guatemala City, firing machine-gun rounds and dropping a fragmentation bomb set off a series of loud explosions."

-Stephen Kinzer in Overthrow 

"Former President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman of Guatemala and his foreign minister Guillermo Toriello. Both looked to U.S. Ambassador Peurifoy instead of the workers and peasants to save their regime from Colonel Armas’ rebellion. Peurifoy suggested they resign. They resigned and fled the country."

-The Militant (1954)

"GUATEMALA, June 27, The regime of President Jacabo Arbenz Guzman come to an end tonight. He agreed to step down in favor of a military junta."

-Paul P. Kennedy NYTimes (1954)