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The Soon Coming Judgment Of God Upon America and How To Escape It 199
Company (UFC) who was also the largest employer in Guatemala. US multinationals nearly
owned the country. UFC owned and operated the telephone and telegraph utility, administered
the only Atlantic port of significance and had a monopoly on banana exports. Other US
company's held a monopoly on the supply of electricity.
Arbenz sought to break the US monopolies by that dirty word, good old fashioned
“competition”. He constructed an Atlantic Port and a highway which would offer competition to
UFC holdings and he built a hydroelectric plant so that he could offer his people cheaper
electricity. UFC monopoly on land holdings could only be broke through redistribution. Arbenz
wanted 800,000 undeveloped acres of UFC land. UFC wanted $16 million for the land but
Arbenz was only willing to pay the value UFC had declared for tax purposes, $525,000.
748
The military coup backed by the US cost the US an estimated $20 million. US assistance
in the coup included aerial bombing by CIA planes. Guatemalan forces could easily have held
out but they feared further US interdiction. The military forced Arbenz to step down and the US
installed Col. Castillo Armas to place him. Under Armaz's administration UFC got back their
land, the Banana Workers Union was banned and seven union organizers were found dead. The
75 percent of Guatemalans who couldn’t read or write had their voting rights revoked.
749
Castillo closed opposition newspapers, burned books including a Nobel Prize winning
title by an author very critical of UFC. Within 4-months 72,000 people had been declared
communist by a committee established by Castillo. Those so declared had no right of appeal,
they could be arrested and held for up to 6-months, they could not own a radio or hold public
office. In the first month thousands were arrested; many suffered a horrible fate of torture and
death.
750
Cuba
In February of 1898 there was an explosion aboard the battleship Maine which was
anchored in Havana harbor; 266 US sailors were killed. The cause of the explosion was and still
is unknown. The US blamed the Spanish and used the event as a pretext for the Spanish-
American War with Cuba.
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Many strongly believe today that the US blew up its own ship as
justification for the war.
Prior to Presidential dictator Fulgenico Batista being ousted by Castro on January 1,
1959, the people of Cuba were among the wealthiest of Latin America. The per capita income
was second in Latin America and the average wage was $3.00 per hour. This wage rate was
comparable to an average in the US of $4.06 per hour. The average rate of pay was also higher
than that in Belgium, Denmark, France and West Germany.
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The conditions in Cuba today are
of no caparison; the people are very poor and constantly face shortages of food of all types.
In the revolutionary war in Cuba, America chose again to support the communist, Fidel
Castro.
753
The Guerrilla warrior did not even have the support of the people. During this time
period, Earl T. Smith was the American Ambassador to Cuba. Smith said the following
regarding US support of Castro:
…Castro could not have seized power in Cuba without the aid of the
United States. American government agencies and the United States press played
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