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Devils Don't Dream!

Devils Don't Dream!

September 1954. Before his journey into exile Jacobo Arbenz, the overthrown President of Guatemala, is presented to photographers stripped down to his underwear: an image seen around the world.

Arbenz had led the successful 1944 revolt against the military dictatorship, a regime that had oppressed Guatemala since colonialism. Arbenz, the son of Swiss immigrants, was celebrated as a national hero. Elected President in 1950, Arbenz was not a member of any party - he didn't issue any manifestos. But he began to fulfill his promises - farmers got their own land. 'The first act of justice since colonial times,' said Arbenz.

In the early 1950s, with the Cold War intensifying, then Vice President Richard Nixon said, 'Arbenz is not a Guatemalan President.' Nixon called him 'a foreigner, manipulated by foreign powers.' The young President of Guatemala was soon overthrown, declared a traitor, and chased out of the country.

The white hero, in whom the country had placed such high hopes, had been seduced; at least that was the official version. He had been betrayed by foreign powers, by Indians, by a woman. He was not a man, not a President. The religious discord was settled, the old power structures were reestablished, and civil war raged across the country for over 40 years.

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