"We Are Meddling": anti-Colonialism and the British Cold War against the Guatemalan Revolution, 1944–1954. Issue 5 (3rd September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Moulton, Aaron Coy
• Is Part Of: International history review. Volume 44:Issue 5(2022)
• Page Start: 1108
• Page End: 1126
• Publication Date: 2022-09-03
• Subjects: Caribbean Basin -- decolonisation -- intelligence history; History -- Periodicals; Histoire; History; Internationale politiek; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 905
• DOI: 10.1080/07075332.2021.1994444
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0707-5332

Abstract

Abstract: This article reveals how the British government contested the democratic governments of Guatemala from the mid-1940s into the early 1950s. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Guatemalan Revolution inspired a crescendo of anti-colonial sentiment frequently directed toward Belize/British Honduras which British officials denounced as proof of communist influence. In response, the British government unleashed the Information Research Department (IRD) to spread anti-communist propaganda. Not only did Caribbean Basin dictators approach the IRD to participate in a plot to overthrow Jacobo Arbenz's government, but the intelligence agency networked with and helped Guatemalan anti-communists including university students who joined the regime of Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas installed by the U.S. government following the Central Intelligence Agency's notorious Operation PBSUCCESS.