After the death of Arana, Árbenz contested the presidential elections that were held in 1950

and without significant opposition defeated Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes, his nearest challenger,
by a margin of over 50%. He took office on 15 March 1951, and continued the social reform
policies of his predecessor. These reforms included an expanded right to vote, the ability of
workers to organize, legitimizing political parties, and allowing public debate. [7] The centerpiece
of his policy was an agrarian reform law under which uncultivated portions of large land-
holdings were expropriated in return for compensation and redistributed to poverty-stricken
agricultural laborers. Approximately 500,000 people benefited from the decree. The majority of
them were indigenous people, whose forebears had been dispossessed after the Spanish
invasion.
His policies ran afoul of the United Fruit Company, which lobbied the United States
government to have him overthrown. The US was also concerned by the presence of
communists in the Guatemalan government, and Árbenz was ousted in the 1954 Guatemalan
coup d'état engineered by the government of US president Dwight Eisenhower through the
US Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency. Colonel Carlos Castillo
Armas replaced him as president. Árbenz went into exile through several countries, where his
family gradually fell apart, and his daughter committed suicide. He died in Mexico in 1971. In
October 2011, the Guatemalan government issued an apology for Árbenz's overthrow.
After the death of Arana, Árbenz contested the presidential elections that were held in 1950
and without significant opposition defeated Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes, his nearest challenger,
by a margin of over 50%. He took office on 15 March 1951, and continued the social reform
policies of his predecessor. These reforms included an expanded right to vote, the ability of
workers to organize, legitimizing political parties, and allowing public debate. [7] The centerpiece
of his policy was an agrarian reform law under which uncultivated portions of large land-
holdings were expropriated in return for compensation and redistributed to poverty-stricken
agricultural laborers. Approximately 500,000 people benefited from the decree. The majority of
them were indigenous people, whose forebears had been dispossessed after the Spanish
invasion.
His policies ran afoul of the United Fruit Company, which lobbied the United States
government to have him overthrown. The US was also concerned by the presence of
communists in the Guatemalan government, and Árbenz was ousted in the 1954 Guatemalan
coup d'état engineered by the government of US president Dwight Eisenhower through the
US Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency. Colonel Carlos Castillo
Armas replaced him as president. Árbenz went into exile through several countries, where his
family gradually fell apart, and his daughter committed suicide. He died in Mexico in 1971. In
October 2011, the Guatemalan government issued an apology for Árbenz's overthrow.
After the death of Arana, Árbenz contested the presidential elections that were held in 1950
and without significant opposition defeated Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes, his nearest challenger,
by a margin of over 50%. He took office on 15 March 1951, and continued the social reform
policies of his predecessor. These reforms included an expanded right to vote, the ability of
workers to organize, legitimizing political parties, and allowing public debate. [7] The centerpiece
of his policy was an agrarian reform law under which uncultivated portions of large land-
holdings were expropriated in return for compensation and redistributed to poverty-stricken
agricultural laborers. Approximately 500,000 people benefited from the decree. The majority of
them were indigenous people, whose forebears had been dispossessed after the Spanish
invasion.
His policies ran afoul of the United Fruit Company, which lobbied the United States
government to have him overthrown. The US was also concerned by the presence of
communists in the Guatemalan government, and Árbenz was ousted in the 1954 Guatemalan
coup d'état engineered by the government of US president Dwight Eisenhower through the
US Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency. Colonel Carlos Castillo
Armas replaced him as president. Árbenz went into exile through several countries, where his
family gradually fell apart, and his daughter committed suicide. He died in Mexico in 1971. In
October 2011, the Guatemalan government issued an apology for Árbenz's overthrow.
After the death of Arana, Árbenz contested the presidential elections that were held in 1950
and without significant opposition defeated Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes, his nearest challenger,
by a margin of over 50%. He took office on 15 March 1951, and continued the social reform
policies of his predecessor. These reforms included an expanded right to vote, the ability of
workers to organize, legitimizing political parties, and allowing public debate. [7] The centerpiece
of his policy was an agrarian reform law under which uncultivated portions of large land-
holdings were expropriated in return for compensation and redistributed to poverty-stricken
agricultural laborers. Approximately 500,000 people benefited from the decree. The majority of
them were indigenous people, whose forebears had been dispossessed after the Spanish
invasion.
His policies ran afoul of the United Fruit Company, which lobbied the United States
government to have him overthrown. The US was also concerned by the presence of
communists in the Guatemalan government, and Árbenz was ousted in the 1954 Guatemalan
coup d'état engineered by the government of US president Dwight Eisenhower through the
US Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency. Colonel Carlos Castillo
Armas replaced him as president. Árbenz went into exile through several countries, where his
family gradually fell apart, and his daughter committed suicide. He died in Mexico in 1971. In
October 2011, the Guatemalan government issued an apology for Árbenz's overthrow.
After the death of Arana, Árbenz contested the presidential elections that were held in 1950
and without significant opposition defeated Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes, his nearest challenger,
by a margin of over 50%. He took office on 15 March 1951, and continued the social reform
policies of his predecessor. These reforms included an expanded right to vote, the ability of
workers to organize, legitimizing political parties, and allowing public debate. [7] The centerpiece
of his policy was an agrarian reform law under which uncultivated portions of large land-
holdings were expropriated in return for compensation and redistributed to poverty-stricken
agricultural laborers. Approximately 500,000 people benefited from the decree. The majority of
them were indigenous people, whose forebears had been dispossessed after the Spanish
invasion.
His policies ran afoul of the United Fruit Company, which lobbied the United States
government to have him overthrown. The US was also concerned by the presence of
communists in the Guatemalan government, and Árbenz was ousted in the 1954 Guatemalan
coup d'état engineered by the government of US president Dwight Eisenhower through the
US Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency. Colonel Carlos Castillo
Armas replaced him as president. Árbenz went into exile through several countries, where his
family gradually fell apart, and his daughter committed suicide. He died in Mexico in 1971. In
October 2011, the Guatemalan government issued an apology for Árbenz's overthrow.