The United States originally established diplomatic relations with Guatemala in the late 1840’s after declaring their independence from Spain. Shortly after the ending of World War II, the Cold War began and threat of communism spread throughout the US. To the United States, Guatemala was being too soft on communism and soon it would begin to spread throughout the country. This lead the United States to fund, train and equip a rebel army of Guatemalan exiles on land owned by the United Fruit Company in Honduras. By 1960, this rebel group had completely overthrown the Guatemalan government and had now established military control over the country while remaining in close relations with the United States. The attached letter is from an unknown source to the CIA station located in Guatemala stating that any “insurgent” deaths to happen at the hand of Guatemalan security forces should be made to look as if they were provoked. Although most of the contents are blacked out of the document, there is a line that also states the necessity of a judge to be called to the scene of an “encounter” to confirm the ruling of the death as provoked, or confirm the fabrications.
Files like these were concealed to limit the liability or known US involvement in the military-like control taking place in Latin American countries. As the letter stated, these precautions of concealing deaths were followed to avoid “unfavorable publicity”, all while the US provided air support to the Guatemalan army. The United States backed military control because they felt that as long as there wasn’t communist control, they would be winning the Cold War. It was, in a sense, the lesser of two evils, despite civil war breaking out during the 30 years of Guatemalan military control.