On June 27, 1954, Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman resigned under the pressure of a CIA covert operation code-named PBSUCCESS, ending the decade-long Guatemalan Revolution and installing a series of U.S.-backed military rulers.
The United States, alarmed by Arbenz's land reform, which affected the United Fruit Company, and by his tolerance of the local Communist Party, authorized the CIA to arm and train a small exile force under Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas, which invaded from Honduras on June 18 backed by CIA-piloted air raids and an intense psychological warfare campaign. Though the invasion fared poorly in the field, the propaganda and fear of direct U.S.
intervention led the Guatemalan army to refuse to fight; Arbenz resigned and took asylum, later going into exile in Mexico. Castillo Armas became president on July 7. The coup is widely regarded as a turning point that ushered in decades of repression and civil war.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, President of Guatemala (forced to resign, took asylum, exiled)
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Jacobo Arbenz Guzman (deposed president)
Carlos Castillo Armas (exile leader installed as president)
John Peurifoy (U.S. ambassador)
Allen Dulles and John Foster Dulles (CIA director and Secretary of State)
Sources
The democratically elected president Jacobo Arbenz was deposed in 1954 in a coup precipitated by the CIA covert operation PBSUCCESS, which installed the military dictatorship of Carlos Castillo Armas; Arbenz resigned on 27 June 1954 and took asylum in the Mexican embassy.
Castillo Armas's force invaded from Honduras on 18 June 1954 backed by psychological warfare, air bombings, and a naval blockade; the invasion fared poorly militarily but intimidated the army into refusing to fight, and Arbenz resigned on 27 June.
A U.S. government account states that clandestine CIA contacts with the regular army finally persuaded several powerful officers to confront Arbenz, who resigned on 27 June 1954, after which American diplomats helped broker negotiations and Castillo Armas was installed as president.
SOURCE REVIEWEDU.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950-1955, The Intelligence Community, Document 154open source ↗
Arbenz's land reform under Decree 900 expropriated uncultivated estates including large holdings of the United Fruit Company, and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and CIA Director Allen Dulles, both former partners of United Fruit's law firm, pressed Eisenhower to authorize the overthrow.
SOURCE REVIEWEDZinn Education Project, "June 27, 1954: Elected Guatemalan Leader Overthrown in CIA-Backed Coup"open source ↗
Editorial Note
Arbenz resigned on 27 June 1954; the Cline dataset codes 29 June, likely reflecting the immediate post-resignation transfer of power (Castillo Armas was installed as president on 7 July). Two Wikipedia sections, a primary FRUS document, and the Zinn Education Project account were read directly and agree on the CIA operation PBSUCCESS, the United Fruit connection, and the outcome. This is one of the best-documented Cold War covert coups.
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, President of Guatemala (forced to resign, took asylum, exiled).
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; exiled. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“New Palace Revolution Guatemala Anti-Red Coup Reported,” June 29, 1954
Irish Times
“Truce in Guatemala follows coup by new military junta,” June 30, 1954
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →