The CIA’s Air War During a 1954 Guatemalan Coup Was Nearly a Fiasco

The CIA’s Air War During a 1954 Guatemalan Coup Was Nearly a Fiasco

World War II airplanes, Cold War conflict

by ROBERT BECKHUSEN
3 days ago

The CIA-backed coup which toppled Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 is one of Latin America’s more tragic episodes. Concerned about the growing influence of communists within Guatemala’s liberal government, the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration approved a secret plan to arm, train and fund a rebellion.

Operation PBSUCCESS, as the CIA codenamed the mission, succeeded. But the coup doomed Guatemalan democracy, creating the conditions for a brutal civil war to erupt and persist for more than 36 years.

Less known is one of the agency’s most important contributions — creating a small air force of World War II-era planes to support the rebellious troops, led by ex-colonel Carlos Castillos Armas. He became the country’s dictator after the coup, and was assassinated in 1957.

. . .

Not only did CIA aircraft — stripped of their markings — move supplies for the rebellion, without which it would have likely failed, the agency provided combat power. The small fleet included a handful of F-47N Thunderbolts, a P-38L Lightning, a Cessna 180 and two C-47 transports.

More:
https://warisboring.com/the-cias-air-war-during-a-1954-guatemalan-coup-was-nearly-a-fiasco-eb018f38695#.8sbnkjis6

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Dictator Carlos Castillo Armas with Vice President Richard M Nixon



Armas and his wife on either side of Pat (Mrs. Richard M) Nixon





Left picture, Armas, sitting next to his CIA driver, right photo,
US supported Chilean and Bolivian dictators Pinochet and Hugo Banzer.



Nixon, going in for a gooood look at Castillo Armas' troops



Galeras that served as housing for workers in the sugar cane farms, Costa Sur, c. 1975-1990.



Poverty in Guatemela City, c. 1975-1990.



Campesina of the San Andrés Osuna finca with her son. Mazatenango, Suchitepéquez, 1979.

(worker on a Guatemalan estate in her "home.&quot