Arbenz Guzmán, Jácobo (1913-1971)

Guatemalan social democratic politician and president from 1951 until his overthrow in 1954 by army rebels led by Carlos Castillo Armas, operating with the help of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Guzmán brought in policies to redistribute land, much of it owned by overseas companies, to landless peasants; he also encouraged labour organization and brought in communist administrators. However, increasing repression, after an attempted coup in 1952, lost him popular support. His last years were spent in exile in Mexico, Uruguay, and Cuba.

As a young army officer, he married the daughter of a wealthy El Salvador family and was subsequently driven by hostility to the established order. He helped lead the October 1944 popular revolution against the dictatorial regime of Jorge Ubico, and became defence minister in the democratically elected government of Juan José Arévalo 1945-50. He was elected president in 1950 and took office in March 1951.