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Jacobo Arbenz

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World Leader

The Resume

    (September 14, 1913-January 27, 1971)
    Born in Quetzaltenago, Guatemala
    Birth name was Juan Jacobo Arbenz Guzman
    Secretary of Defense (1944-50)
    President of Guatemala (1951-54)
    Overthrown in a CIA-backed coup

Why he might be annoying:

    He joined the army solely because winning a scholarship to the national military academy was the only was he could afford college after his family went bankrupt (thanks to his father's morphine addiction).
    He said he was 'moved' by reading 'The Communist Manifesto.'
    His government eulogized Josef Stalin as 'a great statesman and leader, whose passing is mourned by all progressive men.'
    Many of his economic and political reforms were reversed by the military governments that followed him in power.
    His decision while in exile to settle in Cuba for a few years as a guest of Fidel Castro did nothing to dispel the accusations against him of being a Communist.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was only the second democratically elected President of Guatemala.
    He launched an ambitious agrarian reform program at a time when 2% of the population owned 70% of the land.
    He lost 1,700 acres of land he owned to his reform program.
    His reform programs resulted in a significant improvement in living standards for thousands of peasant families, many of whom were indigenous peoples.
    The United Fruit Company, the largest landowner in Guatemala and largest target of the land reform campaign, spent over $500,000 on a public relations campaign to paint him and his government as Communists.
    After he went into exile, the CIA released his personal papers -- after editing them to further discredit him.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 32 Votes: 46.88% Annoying