This document is a declassified CIA memorandum summarizing a meeting with President Eisenhower, the Guatemalan ambassador Dr. Don Guillermo Toriello, and the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, John Cabot. Cabot wrote the memorandum January 16, 1954, over four months after PBSuccess was approved by Eisenhower. In it, Cabot reports that Toriello desired better relations with the U.S., disagreeing that communism was a major problem in Guatemala. Instead, he “continued to harp on the line that the United Fruit, and not the few Guatemalan communists, were the source of our difficulties in relations.” To support this argument, Toriello used “a little map of Guatemala to show the United Fruit’s stranglehold on ports, railways, etc.” In response, Cabot referenced the known communist officials in government positions, specifically mentioning the National Agrarian Department. Eisenhower assured Toriello that the U.S. saw their “Latin neighbors as sovereign equals, and did not try to interfere in their affairs.”
This meeting memorandum details the argument between the Árbenz government and the Eisenhower government. While Toriello worked to play down the presence of communists in Guatemala’s government, Eisenhower and Cabot understated the influence that UFCO had in Guatemala. Eisenhower also very clearly lied about his desire to intervene in the affairs of Guatemala, as he had already approved the CIA coup. The discrepancy between the image presented by Eisenhower and Cabot and what was actually happening in secret demonstrates the lack of transparency that existed, which the CIA attempted to continue. This memorandum also suggests that any attempt at diplomacy was merely for appearances, since Eisenhower and Cabot express little interest in taking any action to mend their relationship with Guatemala.
“The President said that we really couldn’t help a government which was openly playing ball with communists. The people of the United States hated communism and if we helped them there would be a coup against him (this laughingly).
The Ambassador said that the real question was not that of communists in the Guatemalan Government, but of the monopolistic position of the United Fruit in the country. The Ambassador brought out a little map of Guatemala to show the United Fruit’s stranglehold on ports, railways, etc. He went into his usual discreetly distorted indictment of the United Fruit and insisted that this, and not communism in the Government, was the source of the difficulties in relations between the United States and Guatemala. He also brought out two scrapbooks of anti-Guatemalan articles published in the U.S. press.
The President said that we certainly wanted no more than justice for any American companies operating in Guatemala. We would be agreeable to having an international tribunal decide what the rights of the controversy were. Moreover, we realized that contracts made many years ago were subject to revision under changing circumstances.
The Ambassador continued to harp on the line that the United Fruit, and not the few Guatemalan communists, were the source of our difficulties in relations. Mr. Cabot interjected that avowed communists occupied key positions in the National Agrarian Department, the official press and radio, and other government agencies, and that the highest officials of the Guatemalan Government were openly supporting them and listening to their advice.
The Ambassador continued to press his argument with skill. He particularly mentioned that Sullivan & Cromwell, the Secretary of State’s former firm, represented the United Fruit. The President by this point had risen to indicate the interview was ended. Mr. Cabot, thinking the Ambassador had charged that he had stock in the United Fruit, pointed out that this was untrue.
The President asked about the charges against the United Fruit. Mr. Cabot said there were certainly two sides to that question. The Ambassador said that they paid no taxes, just one cent per stem on bananas. He also mentioned that no immediate compensation had been given for the United Fruit lands seized. The President suggested that perhaps this could be settled by an international judgment, perhaps headed by a Latin American. Mr. Cabot pointed out that we had proposed action along these lines, but Guatemala considered this a matter of sovereignty.”
Link to full text: https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/ike/iv/20210.htm
Citation:
Cabot, John Moors. “Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Cabot).” U.S. Department of State Archive. U.S. Department of State Archive, January 16, 1954. https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/ike/iv/20210.htm.