Guatemala's first leftist president since last one was overthrown by CIA coup

[cyu]

Leftist is sworn in as Guatemala's new president
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004125591_wdig15.html

Álvaro Colom was sworn in Monday as Guatemala's first leftist president in more than 50 years, promising to fight poverty in a nation where half the people live on less than $1 a day.

Colom took office along with his vice president, former Houston Methodist Hospital heart surgeon Rafael Espada, in a ceremony attend by at least 10 world leaders, including Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez.

Colom, an industrial engineer who led Guatemala's efforts to coax thousands of war refugees back home, has promised a broad social agenda that includes building schools and medical centers, creating jobs and bringing security to a country where gangs behead victims and drug traffickers control much of the police.

The country's last leftist president, Jacobo Arbenz, was thrown out of office in 1954 by a CIA-orchestrated coup.

[Revulero]

Alvaro Colom is a center leftist and encourages private investments, he's not a revolutionary leftist like Arbenz who made an attempt at agrarian reform for peasants before the US took him out of power. .

[VukBZ2005]

Hopefully, he could help to resolve the Belizean-Guatemalan border dispute. It is such a nuisance.

[kromando33]

I'll never understand the ultra-leftist obsession with the social-democratic governments of South America...

[Joby]

I'll never understand the ultra-leftist obsession with the social-democratic governments of South America...

It has to do with the CIA editing out every non-fascist govt that appears.

The leftist govt that the CIA overthrew in 1953 modeled itself on the New Deal, but that isn't good enough for the nazis on the CFR.

[VukBZ2005]

I'll never understand the ultra-leftist obsession with the social-democratic governments of South America...

It's a Leninist thing, not an "ultra-leftist" thing, and also, Guatemala is in Central America, not South America. If you want to include the whole region into this, just use the term, "Latin America and the Caribbean."

[GUAredstar]

I'm Guatemalan, i really hope he would be an extreme leftist because thats what we need. His leftist but not extremist; his a successful industrial engineer, who also happens to have a strong social conscience. He was a professor of my mom who was also a leftist. She abandoned any thoughts once they killed and tortured her 2 best friends and many of her acquaintances. People accuse the guerrilla of torturing and killing but the government was the first one to throw the stone. They begun by chasing everyone that was suspect, and finished by bombarding Villages a la Vietnam that had kids and women who had NOTHING to do with the guerrilla. The U.S also made money selling weapons to such countries, and i know for a fact flew secret missions in Guatemala bombarding the same type villages... of course The extreme Leftists have the fault of the violence in the eyes of any developed country. Live in a 3rd world country and you too will get extreme views.

In Guatemala if you're in a student association they see you as leftist, and likely to join guerrilla so you must know something... therefore you get tortured and killed, if not they go for your family(at least immediately after Arbenz and up until they made a peace treaty with the guerrilla, 1996 i believe).
The Guerrilla lasted for 30 years thanks to our north American capitalist friends, who also happened to train the government since Arbenz on torturing and crushing any capitalistic opposition, or seeming threat. I grew up seeing many people with amputated limbs from combat...

I think however that whatever the amount of blood is shed it's needed to achieve our independence from this Imperialism which has left MANY Latin American countries completely fucked.

We are extremist because its a need; the CIA has put its hands in our business, too many times and people are tired of it. Look at nicaragua and venezuela both now presidents were guerrillas once, the U.S tried as hard as they could to prevent them from taking power. Ironically they have been reinstated democratically because people are finally fed up and WANT change.

Back to Colom, i don't think he'll become an Arbenz but according to my mom who nows him, his a good man with very socialistic views and and successful at creating industries and thus jobs since his an industrial engineer. Hopefully he wont get murdered, because then i bet another 30 years of civil war will happen...

"its better to die standing than to live on your knees" latin american countries are living on their knees its time they fight back.

Sorry for not introducing its my first time here, just wanted to chime in since i know first hand how it is down there.

[Faux Real]

Look at nicaragua and venezuela both now presidents were guerrillas once, the U.S tried as hard as they could to prevent them from taking power. Ironically they have been reinstated democratically because people are finally fed up and WANT change.Ortega is nothing more than an opportunist nowadays. Under Carlos Fonseca the FSLN was committed to a collectively approached politics, but unfortunately he was killed before the revolution.

Under Ortega, it has betrayed the average citizen by ignoring the pleas of the peasantry and small industrial working class, allowing no inter-party communication, resulting in splits. The Contra War is partially at fault for sabotaging the Sandinista movement, but Ortega and his lackeys even in his current term(who own some sweet mansions just outside of the Managua slums BTW) has not been able to carry out much progressive when talking about bringing positive change for the Nicaraguan masses.

Latin America needs to undergo further radicalization; voting for seemingly 'leftist' presidents, usually only portrayed as such via the bourgeois media, does not get rid of the dependencies brought on by the institutions of the IMF/WB. Voting for these kinds of politicians isn't "extremist" enough for power to settle into the hands of the workers and peasantry. Especially if the people don't keep him/her in check.

Y en otra nota, bienvenido Guatemalteco! :)

[Luís Henrique]

Alvaro Colom is a center leftist and encourages private investments, he's not a revolutionary leftist like Arbenz who made an attempt at agrarian reform for peasants before the US took him out of power. .

Arbenz was a revolutionary leftist?!

Luís Henrique

[GUAredstar]

he wasn't revolutionary because he didn't create a revolution, he was democratically elected. He was radical in the reforms he tried to imply, and also had Stalinist ways in how he dealt with his opposition he was no angel, but he was trying to make it better for the poor which was pretty much most of the country. It was also know that he was friends with Ernesto Guevara who was living in Guatemala at the time, and his advisor was the leader of the communist party, and he made no apologies for it. It was easy for him to seem like a threat to the U.S.

He expropriated the united fruits company land that wasn't in use, to give to peasants to produce, and payed them $600,000. This wasn't enough for the company who despite not using that land acted like it was crippling its business.

I agree about Ortega. While we have oppression and desperation withing the society they will always fall pray to so called people that call them selves revolutionary, and look only for their own gain. I hope Colom, doesn't turn out to be another fraud like every president for the past 30 years.

[R_P_A_S]

it annoys me how the media portraits this guy as a "leftist" lol. ok well i hope he at least gets his country involved in Petrocaribe and ALBA

[SouthernBelle82]

Still fighting the "cold war" perhaps in their minds? I hope the CIA butts out of this one.


I'll never understand the ultra-leftist obsession with the social-democratic governments of South America...

[SouthernBelle82]

Welcome! I hope you enjoy it here. Everyone's cool and there's lots of good discussions around. :) My mother has a friend who now lives in Mexico doing missionary work there with her husband and she's originally from Gutamela however I've never heard of her speak about her home country though. *shrug* But it's nice to have that view.


I'm Guatemalan, i really hope he would be an extreme leftist because thats what we need. His leftist but not extremist; his a successful industrial engineer, who also happens to have a strong social conscience. He was a professor of my mom who was also a leftist. She abandoned any thoughts once they killed and tortured her 2 best friends and many of her acquaintances. People accuse the guerrilla of torturing and killing but the government was the first one to throw the stone. They begun by chasing everyone that was suspect, and finished by bombarding Villages a la Vietnam that had kids and women who had NOTHING to do with the guerrilla. The U.S also made money selling weapons to such countries, and i know for a fact flew secret missions in Guatemala bombarding the same type villages... of course The extreme Leftists have the fault of the violence in the eyes of any developed country. Live in a 3rd world country and you too will get extreme views.

In Guatemala if you're in a student association they see you as leftist, and likely to join guerrilla so you must know something... therefore you get tortured and killed, if not they go for your family(at least immediately after Arbenz and up until they made a peace treaty with the guerrilla, 1996 i believe).
The Guerrilla lasted for 30 years thanks to our north American capitalist friends, who also happened to train the government since Arbenz on torturing and crushing any capitalistic opposition, or seeming threat. I grew up seeing many people with amputated limbs from combat...

I think however that whatever the amount of blood is shed it's needed to achieve our independence from this Imperialism which has left MANY Latin American countries completely fucked.

We are extremist because its a need; the CIA has put its hands in our business, too many times and people are tired of it. Look at nicaragua and venezuela both now presidents were guerrillas once, the U.S tried as hard as they could to prevent them from taking power. Ironically they have been reinstated democratically because people are finally fed up and WANT change.

Back to Colom, i don't think he'll become an Arbenz but according to my mom who nows him, his a good man with very socialistic views and and successful at creating industries and thus jobs since his an industrial engineer. Hopefully he wont get murdered, because then i bet another 30 years of civil war will happen...

"its better to die standing than to live on your knees" latin american countries are living on their knees its time they fight back.

Sorry for not introducing its my first time here, just wanted to chime in since i know first hand how it is down there.

[cyu]

Welcome! I hope you enjoy it here. Everyone's cool and there's lots of good discussions around. :) My mother has a friend who now lives in Mexico doing missionary work there with her husband and she's originally from Gutamela however I've never heard of her speak about her home country though. *shrug* But it's nice to have that view.

Welcome GUAredstar, from me too. It's great to hear from someone living there.

[Geronimo Pratt]

I love how the article states so easily how the CIA threw Arbenz out in a coup without mentioning that he was democratically elected and questioning the intentions of U.S. foreign policy. Anyways, Guatemalans get to enjoy another Latin American post-Cold War, neoliberal but slightly center-left president. No more massacres and widespread slaughter from the U.S.-backed army but the quiet free market slaughter of starvation and poverty seems to be the Central American policy nowadays; aside from the political repression and standard high murder rates.



Colom defines himself as a moderate social democrat and says he is inspired by leftist presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Michelle Bachelet in Chile.


Just to give you an idea of what kind of policies he supports so we don't give ourselves illusions.

[oujiQualm]

Arbenz was a revolutionary leftist?!

Luís Henrique

same question mark. Arbenz was no revolutionary leftist. He was portrayed as one by THIS GUY, WHO has a very interesting role in the '54 coup and a very interesting role later important events in history:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKphillips.htm

[GUAredstar]

Sorry for the late reply been busy with school. Thanks for the welcoming and i do enjoy the website thoroughly, which is why i joined in. I live in the U.S now, due to family, i know its kind of hypocrite to talk about the hand that would be seen as feeding but things aren't always what they seem.

I do have a question and it is, aren't you guys afraid of getting black listed and monitored by any agency in the government, bush has already made this things a legal possibility down to tapping, invading your house, and breaking human rights outright just with accusing someone of being a terrorist. We live in a time were McCathyism could be rampant, woudln't it suck to be used as an example and accused of being a terrorist just beucase of your marxist beliefs or ones of social change otherwise? Ofcourse im just paranoid but like many say we live in the belly of beast...

[cyu]

woudln't it suck to be used as an example and accused of being a terrorist just beucase of your marxist beliefs or ones of social change otherwise? Ofcourse im just paranoid but like many say we live in the belly of beast...
I live in the US as well, and I wouldn't be surprised if I showed up on some government list somewhere. Though I think that's a violation of human rights, it would actually be a little flattering - a sign that my beliefs could actually be an agent of change.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are members of good standing on revleft.com who work for the government to track us, which is why I include them in my target audience as well. Most Americans only see the propaganda put out by the top-down controlled corporate media, but these agents would see our side of the argument too. There's nothing like opening their minds to new ideas and new possibilities.