Read below to learn more about Guatemala during the Cold War

After dictator Jorge Ubico was removed from office in 1944, a coalition led by Juan Jose Arevalo began a policy of widespread social and political reforms in Guatemala. It was during this period that Guatemala's Communist Party grew in popularity. Arevalo was succeeded in 1951 by Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, a popular politician. The United States feared Arbenz because he tried to institute land reforms that would redistribute land to poor farmers. They saw this attempt at land redistribution as evidence of his communist tendencies.

At the time, 2% of the population in Guatemala owned 72% of the land. Unfortunately for Arbenz, most of that land belonged to the largest landowner and most powerful business in Guatemala: the American owned United Fruit Company. Though Arbenz was willing to compensate United Fruit for some its land, the company tried to persuade President Dwight Eisenhower that Arbenz was a communist sympathizer that needed to be removed from power. President Eisenhower was a firm believer in the ‘domino theory’ and listened to United Fruit.