Editing Jacobo Arbenz (section)

==Political Career and Presidency== 
After the 1944 revolution, Árbenz served as Minister of National Defense (1944–1950) under President Arévalo, modernizing the army and supporting democratic reforms, including labor rights and education expansion. In 1950, he ran for president as the candidate of the Revolutionary Action Party and National Renovation Party, winning 65% of the vote in a free election, succeeding Arévalo on March 15, 1951.

As president (1951–1954), Árbenz pursued ambitious reforms to address Guatemala’s feudal inequalities, where 2% of landowners held 70% of arable land. His signature policy, Decree 900 (1952), was an agrarian reform law aimed at redistributing idle land to 100,000 landless peasants. By 1954, it expropriated 1.5 million acres, including 210,000 acres from the [[United Fruit Company]] (UFCO), which owned 42% of Guatemala’s best farmland but cultivated only 15%. Compensation was based on tax valuations, which UFCO had undervalued at $1.2 million, sparking outrage when offered $627,572 in bonds instead of the $16 million demanded.

Árbenz’s reforms, inspired by socialist principles but not Marxist-Leninist, alarmed the U.S. government and UFCO, whose executives had ties to Eisenhower’s administration, including Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] and CIA Director [[Allen Dulles]].  His tolerance of the small Guatemalan Labor Party (PGT, ~4,000 members) and a 1954 Czech arms purchase (after a U.S. embargo) fueled accusations of communism, despite no Soviet ties. Árbenz’s government also expanded voting rights, infrastructure, and labor protections, but faced opposition from landowners, the Catholic Church, and conservative military factions.