PB Success or Operation Success was a CIA directive aimed at the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Guatemala, The operation took place in between December 1953 and June 1954. It was the natural progression of Operation Fortune, the CIA plan of destabilisation of the Arbez government. PB Success was the first CIA operation of its kind in the Americas, It would use a formula that had been put together in Iran under the codename operation Ajex.
Guatemala was a country literally owned by a small group of individuals and multinationals. Seventy percent of the land was owned by just two per cent of the populace and an amazing forty two percent of the totally land mass of Guatemala was held by the US conglomerate, United Fruit Company. Despite its mass holdings; it had control of the main ports, railroads and the telephone infrastructure, it paid no taxes to the Guatemala state. It was granted exemption by the previous regime. These vast interests earned it the name El Pulpo – The Octopus.
In 1950, a charismatic, ex-army officer, Arbenz, won the precedential election and embarked upon a series of reforms. His most ambitious was Decree 900 which was to redistribute land to the agrarian poor. This was to bring diplomatic problems with the US to a head, due to the effect it would have on United Fruit. Arbenz’s reoperations offered United Fruit one million dollars for land earmarked for redistribution, the price the company had originally valued the land. This was turned down and they now demanded a price 16 million dollars.
United Fruit had very impressive contacts within the US administration, its contacts include the Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the CIA Director Allen Dulles, two brothers who had worked for United Fruit. The Assistant to the Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs John Moors Cabot owned stock in the company and his brother, Thomas was an ex-president of the company.
This impressive group found a receptive ear with President Eisenhower. One of the main focuses of Success was the use of psy-ops. Both CIA and United Fruit employed the brilliant propagandist Edwin Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud. He would state:
If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it.
This would be backed up by false radio station that transmitted from Miami and local journalists were bought by the CIA to publish fictional news stories. Howard Hunt would later say of the operation:
What we wanted to do was to have a terror campaign…much as the German Stuka bombers had terrified the population Holland, Belgium and Poland at the onset of WWII.
The propaganda war was won. Just 400 rebels and CIA lies would overthrow the Arbenz government, mostly through fear not might. The overall effect of Operation Success was to increase tension during the cold war and ultimately lead to the Cuban missile crises.
While those in the CIA saw it as an outright success: they would use it as a template for most of their future operations and it was to bring about the School of the Americas; which trained large numbers of right wing militias, that would bring turmoil to the South American continent. The CIA did not understand the ripple effect that the action would have on the wider world. It was the catalyst that radicalised Che Guevar and countless others in Latin America.
Despite the promise of elections, Guatemala was to remain in a state of turmoil for almost half a century which would result in death toll of over 400.000 people. While those in the Eisenhower Whitehouse, celebrated its success, they were unaware of the decades of instability and misery that Operation Success would bring about. Bissell would state this was a turning point for the CIA as
“Many of us who joined the CIA did not feel bound to observe ethical rules.”
ULSTER NEWS 