Commemorating U.S. & Canadian supported military coups, 1954 & 2009 

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June 27-28, 2021
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Harvest of Empire: Bitter anniversaries in Guatemala & Honduras
Commemorating U.S. & Canadian supported military coups, 1954 & 2009
By Grahame Russell, Rights Action
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June 27 and 28 are bitter dates in Guatemalan and Honduran history, when the U.S. and Canada (and other actors in the “international community”) supported violent regime change interventions that, for decades now, have had devastating consequences for the majority populations of both countries.

These regime changes have been profitable to U.S. and Canadian companies and investors (and other countries) that maintain business operations with the corrupt, military-backed economic elites and regimes in power - “democratic allies” of the U.S. and Canada.

And courageous, daunting struggles continue in both countries against the government repression and corruption necessary to keep this brutal local-to-global economic system in place, and to take back their corrupted legal and political systems.

(The perspective set out in this article is not new. Recommended resources: “Harvest of Empire: The Untold Story of Latinos in America”, a documentary film based on a book by Juan Gonzalez; “Open Veins Latin America”, by Eduardo Galeano; “Peoples History of the United States”, by Howard Zinn; “Canada In The World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination”, by Tyler Shipley)
“Glorious Victory”
On June 27, 1954, Jacobo Arbenz, Guatemala’s last democratically-elected President, and his government were violently ousted by a U.S. orchestrated military coup.


“Gloriosa Victoria” is Mexican painter Diego Rivera’s mural depicting the 1954 coup that ousted the government of Jacobo Arbenz. CIA director Allen Dulles shakes the hand of coup leader (as selected by the U.S.) Colonel Castillo Armas. Allen Dulles’ left hand rests on a bomb with the face of U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower. Next to Allen, brother John Foster Dulles, head of the State Department, and John Peurifoy, Ambassador to Guatemala, hand out cash to Guatemalan military commanders. A Catholic priest officiates over the killing of Mayans and other Guatemalans, as impoverished workers carry United Fruit Company bananas. Both Dulles brothers had direct corporate and investor links to the United Fruit company.

The Rot in Honduras
On June 28, 2009, President Mel Zelaya, Honduras’ last democratically elected leader, and his government were ousted in a military coup supported by the U.S. and Canada.


Honduras’ drug-trafficking linked President Juan Orlando Hernandez – who came to political power with the National Party after the 2009 coup, and took over the Presidency in fraudulent, violent elections in 2013 and 2017 - with assorted U.S. and Canadian partners and supporters.

‘Open-for-global-business’ regime changes
June 27, 1954 and June 28, 2009, mark the ends of short periods of democratically-elected governments that were implementing necessary economic and land reform, political and social reforms in Guatemala (1944-1954) and Honduras (2005-2009).

These bitter dates mark the illegal return to power of corrupt and violent political and military elites together with the traditional land-controlling, economic elites represented by CACIF (Chamber of Agricultural, Industrial, Financial Commerce) in Guatemala and COHEP (Chamber of Private Enterprise) in Honduras.

These military-political-economic elites continue in power in both countries today.

June 27, 1954 and June 28, 2009 mark the return of ‘open for global business’ policies that have been profitable for the Honduran and Guatemalan economic elites and their multinational company and investor partners in the sectors of sugarcane and African palm, coffee and bananas, mineral resources and hydro-electric dams, tourism and “sweatshop” garment factories.

These ‘open for global business’ policies marked the return to race-to-the-bottom capitalist exploitation in these sectors of the economy whose operations are characterized by violent evictions and human rights violations, repression and corruption.

In many ways, this is where we are today.

Impunity and corruption of rich, powerful countries
June 27 and 28 are days of reflection, to rededicate oneself to the work and struggle needed to bring around positive and lasting political, economic and social reforms and changes in Honduras and Guatemala, and – arguably more importantly – in the U.S. and Canada.

Courageous work and struggle continue in Guatemala and Honduras, despite the extreme poverty and deadly repression of the government and economic elites. Arguably more important, much more work and struggle need to be done in the U.S. and Canada, in the halls of the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, in the head offices of multinational companies and investment firms, in the Pentagon.

If work and struggle for accountability and serious change are not successful in the U.S. and Canada, it is hard to see an end to ‘pro-global business’ regime change interventions of the U.S., usually supported by Canada and a host of “international actors” including the World Bank, global companies and investors.

If there is not serious change to the unjust, unequal and often-times violent global Nation-State system (think “The Hunger Games”), then it is hard to see why more Hondurans and Guatemalans will not be forced to flee into exile, for decades to come, in desperate caravans of refugees and forced migrants.

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On these dates of international crime and infamy - June 27 and June 28, we salute the majority of Hondurans and Guatemalans who work every day for the survivals of their families and communities, and who struggle to fundamentally transform how their countries are run and governed.

Thank-you for your work and activism in your community and corner of the planet in favor of local-to-global economic and political models based on real equality, sharing and cooperation, based on respect for all people, all life forms and our Mother Earth.

“There are no magic answers, no miraculous methods to overcome the problems we face,
just the familiar ones: search for understanding, education, organization, action ...
and the kind of commitment that will persist despite the temptations of disillusionment,
despite many failures and only limited successes,
inspired by the hope of a brighter future."
(Noam Chomsky)
Grahame Russell is director of Rights Action, www.rightsaction.org ([link removed])

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Follow work of and get involved with other solidarity/NGO groups
* CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with People of El Salvador): www.cispes.org ([link removed])
* www.hondurassolidarity.org ([link removed])
* Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective: www.solidaritycollective.org ([link removed])
* Friendship Office of the Americas: [link removed] ([link removed])

* NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with People of Guatemala): www.nisgua.org ([link removed])
* GHRC (Guatemalan Human Rights Commission): www.ghrc-usa.org ([link removed])
* Breaking the Silence: www.breakingthesilenceblog.com ([link removed])
* Peace Brigades International: [link removed] ([link removed])
* Alliance for Global Justice: www.afgj.org ([link removed])
* CODEPINK: www.codepink.org ([link removed])
* School of Americas Watch: www.soaw.org ([link removed])
* Mining Watch Canada: www.miningwatch.ca ([link removed])
* Mining Injustice Solidarity Network: [link removed] ([link removed])
* Mining Justice Alliance: [link removed] ([link removed])
* Common Frontiers Canada: www.commonfrontiers.ca ([link removed])

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To support land, human rights and environmental defender groups, and human rights and justice struggles in Honduras and Guatemala, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
* U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
* Canada: 351 Queen St. E. (Box 552), Toronto ON, M5A-1T8

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