After the Second World War, the containment of communism was a primary concern for the United States. To avoid direct military confrontation with the Soviet Union, the United States used the newly created CIA in surreptitious operations to respond to perceived communist threats. In 1953, the focus of the Cold War turned to Guatemala. The CIA’s involvement in Guatemala was a demonstration of the capacity and reach of America’s power relating to foreign policy. President Jacobo Arbenz was soft on communism and believed that political freedom was a right, and although the movement was small, the United States did not hesitate to take action. Arbenz legalized labor unions and passed land reform to redistribute idle land to the lower classes of the country, including land that belonged to the United Fruit Company. The UFCO owned more than 40% of the country land and was exempt from taxes and import duties. Decree 900 was passed in 1952 and allowed the government to have control of unused UFCO land which they had held in order to prevent competitors from benefitting from it. In response the UFCO launches a propaganda campaign to label Arbenz as an increasingly communist leader.  The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, US News and World Report published stories which supported the idea that the government of Guatemala was on its way to communism. In this climate of elevated public fear of communism and pressure from the UFCO, President Eisenhower decided to take action. He authorized the CIA in August 1953 to plan a coup against Arbenz. The CIA chose Castillo Armas to lead rebel forces and guaranteed him the role of president after Arbenz removal. Armas only had a couple hundred supporters and was only able to go against Arbenz with the help of the American government. 

I read the CIA and Guatemala Assaination Proposals, 1952-1954 with analysis by CIA history staff Gerald Haines, 1955 and this document directly exposes the instructional guides on assasination under Operation PBSuccess. These documents were released May 23,1997 and cemented the CIAs involvement in the 1954 Guatemalan coup. The CIA released 1.4% of the 100,000 documents relating to the coup. This document supports that the United States and the director of the CIA, Walter Smith believed that Arbenz was in fact leading Guatemala toward a communist regime. The CIA created the PBFortune designed to “topple the Arbenz regime”. This document supports that PBFortune proposed the assasination of Arbenz and the officers which compiled a “hit list” of leaders in Guatemala which needed to be removed. The CIA also used psychological warfare by sending leading communists death notice cards” for thirty days after April 15,1953. This was not as successful as planned, which led the CIA to create PBSuccess. It “combined psychological warfare, economic, diplomatic and paramilitary action” in order to forcefully “remove covertly and without bloodshed, if possible, the possible present Communist controlled government of Guatemala.” The CIA, through this document, is proven to be directing the government of Guatemala against the will of the citizens of the country. Although Arbenz was supported by the people of Gutemala, the United States felt threatened due to the political climate surrounding the Red Scare to the point of intervention.