An American Coup in Guatemala

Give to help Chris make Truce

Given the recent events in Venezuela, I have decided to run a classic episode from season 3. The question of our era is not "why did we do this?" but "why do we keep doing this?" Why does the United States continue to overthrow other countries?

God willing, I'll be back next week with a new episode about Pat Robertson.

Discussion Questions:

• What threat did President Jacobo Arbenz pose to United Fruit?
• United Fruit owned many utilities in Guatemala from the trains to telephone lines. How would you feel if our utilities were owned by foreign entities? If they controlled our natural resources?
• Do you think the land reform deal was a good one for their country?
• Were people like John Foster Dulles right to overthrow Arbenz?
• How might it have benefited them to do so?
• In what way could the actions of the US in the 1950s reflect poorly on Christianity domestically and abroad?
• It has been argued that American consumers benefit when Latin American and African countries are thrown in disarray. It means cheaper diamonds, gold, rubber, and more while also stranding the people in those countries in poverty.
• Does it bother you that you may be benefiting from unbalanced countries?
• Do you find the assumption that we are benefiting to be offensive? Why?
• Is there anything we can do about it?

Sources:

• “Bad Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala” by Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer
• CIA Document profiling Arbenz
• YouTube clips of a documentary on the Guatemalan coup
• Then-Vice President Nixon talking with Armas after the overthrow
• Statistics on Fruit
• Financial Times article about United Fruit
• Book “One Nation Under God” by Kevin Kruse (for the bio info on the Dulles brothers)
• Peurifoy’s cable to Washington
• President Arbenz’s farewell speech
• List of governments that the US has overthrown

New intro sources:

• CSPAN's coverage of the January 3, 2026, speech given by President Trump
• The New York Times' coverage of the capture of Maduro
• The New York Times' coverage of the oil angle

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