ABSTRACT
The Liberals took control of Guatemala in 1871 and with minor exceptions held power until the 1940s. Liberal dictator-president Justo Rufino Barrios modernized – by building roads, railways, a national army, and a more competent national bureaucracy. The world economic crisis of 1929 slashed Guatemala's exports. In 1950 Guatemalans elected a young army officer, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, to succeed Arevalo. Arbenz sought to deepen social reforms despite growing conservative and US opposition. US military aid to Guatemala increased rapidly, but early military operations against the guerrillas proved ineffective. Military dissatisfaction and a desire to block the next election culminated in Colonel Enrique Peralta Azurdia's overthrow of Ydigoras in 1963, and rapid expansion of counterinsurgency operations. Under the economic guidance of the military-business partnership, Guatemala experienced rapid economic growth, as in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Official unemployment statistics for Guatemala indicate a steady growth of unemployment even during the fastest Central American Common Market-induced gross domestic product growth.
