Editing Jacobo Arbenz (section)

==Exile and Final Years== 
Árbenz’s exile was marked by hardship and surveillance. He lived in Mexico, Switzerland, France, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union, seeking a stable home for his family. In Switzerland, he was forced to renounce Guatemalan citizenship to enter, a humiliating condition. The CIA monitored him closely, as revealed in declassified documents (National Security Archive), suspecting Soviet ties that never materialized. In 1960, he settled in Cuba, welcomed by Fidel Castro, who admired his defiance of U.S. imperialism. Árbenz briefly worked as a consultant but grew disillusioned with Cuba’s bureaucracy.

Personal tragedies compounded his exile. His daughter Arabella, struggling with depression, died by suicide in 1965 in Bogotá, Colombia, at age 25. Árbenz’s marriage to María deteriorated, and they separated, though they never divorced. In 1970, he returned to Mexico, living modestly in Mexico City with María and their surviving children. On January 27, 1971, Árbenz was found dead in his bathtub at age 57, officially from drowning. Theories of suicide or assassination by the CIA or Guatemalan agents persist, but no evidence confirms foul play, and his family accepted the official ruling.