Relationship Between The Caracas Declaration And The 1954 Guatemalan Coup

After the end of the Second World War,the international pattern has undergone extensive and profound changes.The Cold War world pattern under the leadership of the United States and the Soviet Union has gradually taken shape.In order to gain a competitive advantage in confrontation,the two superpowers have carried out all-round strategic resource grabs around the world.Latin America,as a "backyard" in the traditional sense of the United States,can not tolerate the influence of other countries in this special period.Although Guatemala is an insignificant small country and a weak country in Latin America,the policies it has implemented since the revolution in 1944 and the establishment of a new democratic bourgeois government have run counter to the interests of the United States and have received much attention from the United States.The United States hopes to overthrow Guatemala’s democratically elected government and foster agents to manage Guatemala to stabilize its strategic advantage in Latin America.However,subject to the traditional good-neighborly policy and the international situation,the United States dared not act openly.After careful planning,the United States finally formulated a "PBSUCCESS" plan to subvert the Guatemalan government in an indirect way.According to the plan,the United States needs to make full use of the Organization of American States to exert pressure on Guatemala to compress the international living space of the country ’s ruling government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán.In March 1954,the tenth meeting of the Organization of American States was held in Caracas,the capital of Venezuela.With the careful preparation and mediation of the United States,the General Assembly placed its proposal on the resolution against communist interference at the top of the agenda for discussion.After more than half a month of discussions and negotiations,the United States finally made the majority of Latin American countries present to agree to the United States’ proposal to publish the " Caracas Declaration " on behalf of the Organization of American States.The main content of the declaration is to oppose the expansion of communist forces in Latin America,and to take action in consultation with the Organization of American States of Latin American countries that are in danger of overturning by communist forces.This declaration exerted tremendous pressure on Guatemala under the operation of the United States.Three months later,the government of Abenz collapsed in internal and external difficulties,and the United States successfully mobilized the Guatemalan coup.The 1954 Guatemalan coup was the first intervention planned by the United States in Latin America after the start of the Cold War.This had a profound impact on the subsequent American intervention in Latin American affairs and even the post-war American Latin American policy.The United States has created a new model of indirect intervention in Latin American affairs,and its policy toward Latin America has also achieved a transition from wartime anti-fascism to cold war era anti-communism.In short,the United States’ push to issue the Caracas Declaration at all costs is a manifestation of the international struggle situation during the Cold War,and is an extension of the traditional "Monroe" diplomatic concept of the United States during the Cold War.