Nolan Discusses Impacts of 1954 CIA-Backed Military Coup in Guatemala
In an appearance on the Warfare podcast, Rachel Nolan, Assistant Professor of International Relations at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, took a deep dive into the Central Intelligence Agency‘s (CIA) infamous 1954 military coup in Guatemala‘s, which sparked a wave of violence in Guatemala and beyond for decades.
As Cold War tensions escalated in the early 1950s, the White House became obsessed with containing communism in its backyard, and nowhere was this more true than in Guatemala. It was for this reason that in 1954 – before the Bay of Pigs or the Cuban Missile Crisis – the CIA carried out one of its most damaging, and notorious, military coups – aiding the overthrow of Guatemala’s first democratically elected President.
With the effects of this geopolitical scandal still felt today, host James Rogers and Nolan explore what can be learned from this shocking moment in history. In her remarks, Nolan discussed the motivations behind U.S. policing of countries in its backyard, particularly during the Cold War, as well as why Guatemala’s land reform policies and competing U.S. economic interests may have motivated the coup in part. She also notes that the coup, which was widely known to have been CIA-lead, set the model for Central and Latin American Cold War era hatred for the U.S. and built on the long tradition of anti-U.S. sentiments in the region.
The full podcast can be listened to below.
Rachel Nolan is a historian of modern Latin America. Her research focuses on political violence, Central American civil wars, childhood and the family, historical memory, and U.S.-Latin American relations. She is currently completing a book manuscript on the history of international adoption from Guatemala. Read more about Professor Nolan on her faculty profile.