Guatemala:<\/p>\n
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- Jacobo \u00c1rbenz (1913-1971):<\/strong> Jacobo \u00c1rbenz was born into a wealthy Guatemalan family. When the family business went bankrupt, \u00c1rbenz was forced to enter the\n
![\"Jacobo](\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/jacoboarbenz.jpg\")
<\/a>Jacobo \u00c1rbenz<\/p><\/div>\n
military academy, where he excelled in all fields. In 1938, \u00c1rbenz married Maria Vilanova, and it was through his wife that he was first exposed to Marxist ideology. His ideology and skill earned him the admiration of leftist President Juan Jos\u00e9 Ar\u00e9valo, who appointed \u00c1rbenz as Minister of Defense. As the 1950 election neared, \u00c1rbenz emerged as the front-runner for the presidency. The mysterious death of his chief competitor, Francisco Javier Arana, left \u00c1rbenz clear to win the election, which he did easily. The U.S. State Department immediately issued a warning that the \u00c1rbenz regime would turn Guatemala sharply to the left. \u00c1rbenz did not, however, usher in the socialist revolution that the U.S. had predicted. Focused on reducing the dependence of Guatemala on foreign economies, \u00c1rbenz proposed an agrarian reform program that would expropriate large, uncultivated land holdings and turn over that land to Guatemalan families. The owners of the land were to be compensated based on the taxes they had paid in 1952. The act outraged the United Fruit Company, an American multinational that owned much land in Guatemala and had close ties to the U.S. government. The United Fruit Co. began to rally for U.S. military action against the \u00c1rbenz regime. In 1954, it was revealed that Guatemala had purchased weapons from Czechoslovakia, a move the U.S. government interpreted as a threat to the West. President Eisenhower authorized the CIA to launch Operation PBSUCCESS to overthrow \u00c1rbenz. An exile army trained by the U.S. invaded Guatemala and forced \u00c1rbenz to resign on June 27, 1954. In his place the U.S. installed Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. \u00c1rbenz fled to Mexico and later relocated to Europe. In 1957, he returned to Latin America but never found further political success. He died in 1971 in Mexico<\/li>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/Rigoberta_Menchu_2009_cropped.jpg\" "\\"Rigoberta_Menchu_2009_cropped\\"")
<\/a>Rigoberta Menchu, Courtesy of Users Surizar and Jen<\/p><\/div>\n
Rigoberta Mench\u00fa (1959 –\u00a0 ):\u00a0<\/strong>Rigoberta Mench\u00fa was born to a peasant family of Quiche ancestry in 1959. Even at a young age, she had an affinity for social justice and acted as a women\u2019s rights advocate. Because of her work, and that of her father and brother, her family was accused of sympathizing with the guerrilla soldiers fighting against the army in the Guatemalan Civil War. In 1979, Mench\u00fa\u2019s brother was tortured and killed by the army. The following year, her father took part in an indigenous occupation of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City. The police raided the building and it eventually caught fire, killing her father and 35 other people. Rigoberta Mench\u00fa fled Guatemala to avoid further prosecution by the army. Over the next few years, Mench\u00fa continued to call for greater international attention to the Guatemalan Civil War and the plight of the indigenous peoples of Guatemala. In 1983, she recited her story to Venezuelan author Elisabeth Burgos Debray, who helped Mench\u00fa publish the memoir I, Rigoberta Mench\u00fa<\/em>. The book was an instant international success. In 1992, Mench\u00fa received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work. Four years later, the Guatemalan Civil War finally drew to a close, but Mench\u00fa continued to advocate for peace, justice, and equality. Her memoir came under controversy in 1999 when anthropologist David Stoll suggested that some of the events in the book were fabricated or altered. Most of Stoll\u2019s argument has since been proven untrue. Recently, Mench\u00fa has entered national politics representing the indigenous Encuentro por Guatemala party and the Winaq party. In both 2007 and 2011, she was defeated in the first round of voting. There is perhaps no other single Latin American leader who has fought so valiantly and generated so much international attention for the plight of the masses as Rigoberta Mench\u00fa.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
El Salvador:<\/p>\n
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- Farabundo Mart\u00ed (1893-1932):<\/strong> Agust\u00edn Farabundo Mart\u00ed Rodr\u00edguez was born to a mestizo father in Teotepeque, El Salvador, in 1893. He attended the University of El Salvador where he studied Political Science. While in university, Mart\u00ed read Marx and Lenin and was deeply influenced by their ideologies. He later decided to drop out of\n
![\"Farabundo](\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/Farabundomarti.jpg\")
<\/a>Farabundo Mart\u00ed – 1929<\/p><\/div>\n
school and dedicate himself to fighting the exploitation of the poor. In 1920, he was exiled from El Salvador for his participation in a protest against the ruling Mel\u00e9ndez-Qui\u00f1onez dynasty. While in exile he helped found the Central American Socialist Party. He returned to El Salvador in 1925 but was arrested and exiled for a second time. In 1928, he traveled to New York where he worked for International Red Aid, the alternative to the Red Cross created by the Communist International in 1922. Later that year, he served under Augusto Sandino in Nicaragua. Mart\u00ed returned to El Salvador but was exiled again after it was rumored he would be nominated for president in the upcoming elections. Returning in 1931, Mart\u00ed now turned to military means to help the poor. He coordinated a rebellion of indigenous farmers against the dictator Maximiliano Hern\u00e1ndez Mart\u00ednez. Despite some initial successes, the revolt was unable to overthrow Hern\u00e1ndez Mart\u00ednez. The\u00a0 Salvadoran army responded by massacring around 30,000 indigenous people in what came to be known as La Matanza. Mart\u00ed was captured and promptly executed for his part in the revolt. He became synonymous with the leftist movement in El Salvador, and the Farabundo Mart\u00ed National Liberation Front (FMLN) that later waged the Salvadoran Civil War against the army was named in his honor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nicaragua: General Augusto C\u00e9sar Sandino (1895-1934): Augusto C\u00e9sar Sandino was born in 1895 in Nicaragua. In 1921, Sandino was accused of attempted murder and fled the country, eventually settling in Mexico. There, Sandino was exposed to the spirit of the … Continue reading
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