Lost Illusions in Guatemala

Since the end of the second World War Communism has achieved no victory in Latin America as effective as its defeat in Guatemala.

The optimistic declarations of diplomats could not help. Nor did legal action undertaken by the Attorney General of the United States against the United Fruit Company as a monopolistic enterprise succeed in diminishing the importance of the Communist success. United Fruit, the most reactionary element in Guatemala, and, perhaps, the politics of the State Department, have triumphed, for the moment. It is a pyrrhic victory. For what is defeated is not Communism, but the people of Guatemala and left, non-Communist opinion in Latin America.

We are all familiar with the events: in May, the State Department announces that arms from behind the iron curtain have arrived in Guatemala, where the Communists have infiltrated the administration, the unions and even the parties of the left. United Fruit maintains tenacious resistance against the strikers ...