Konye Brown, Coup D’etat

The United States of America has been on the world power stage for upwards of 100 years and you can not achieve this feat without stepping on toes. The Central Intelligence Agency is one of the most powerful organizations in America all for protecting the homeland we all love- or so we think. The CIA has been the head of many political executions all because America feared another country getting in their way or dare to become as powerful. A prime example of this is Iran in 1953 when Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, tried nationalizing the oil industries and the CIA sponsored a coup overthrowing the Prime Minister, plunging Iran into chaos. This event sparks the pattern of the CIA-sponsored coups when other countries try to nationalize industries America wants to play its hand in or go against American ideals.

Oil was first discovered in Iran in 1908, In 1909 oil found in Iranian territory came under British control with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. On April 28, 1951, Iran appointed its new and beloved prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh. Mossadegh was be-

loved by the people of Iran as he implemented many progressive socio-political ideas but most importantly nationalized Iranian oil taking control from Britain (Wu and Lanz). By May 1, 1951, Massadegh officially announced the nationalization of Iranian oil putting the production of oil in the hands of the Iranina government and not Britain. After World War II, the United States established United States (Operation Ajax Undermines a Democratic Iran: 1953).

Initially, Mossadegh was seen as an ally to the United States under the Truman administration. Truman thought very highly of Mossadegh as well as his secretary of state, Dean Acheson, feeling sympathy for the Iranian cause as Massadegh compared their current struggles with Britain to the struggles the United States faced in colonial times. Britain began trying to orchestrate a coup under the name of Operation Boot to overthrow Mohammed Mossadegh and bring the last shah of Iran back to power as he was a corrupt leader and he did not support the nationalization of Iranian oil. Britain still needed assistance to carry out their plan which they looked toward the United States.

Despite the United States’ initial support of Mossadegh, there was a new political climate when the Eisenhower administration came in, a much more conservative administration. Knowing the current relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, Britain convinced the Eisenhower administration Mossadegh would look to the Soviet Union to help stabilize the economy, gaining control of Iran’s oil, supply routes, and other valuable resources (Operation Ajax Undermines a Democratic Iran: 1953). With this, the CIA became involved with British intelligence to overthrow Mossadegh under the name Operation Operation. The plan was to remove Mossadegh from office and replace him with General Fazlollah Zahedi and bring power back to the last shah of Iran.

The CIA first started by taking control of the Iranian press, spreading negative propaganda against Mossadegh. The CIA also recruited members of the Islamic clergy and convinced the shah of Iran that Mossadegh was a threat. The CIA sponsored demonstrations in the streets supporting Zahedi and the Shah. Coordinated by the CIA, the shah’s military and political allies stormed Tehran and captured Mossadegh putting him on trial for treason and effectively putting him on house arrest for the rest of his life. The shah returned to power for the next two decades and had Zahedi as his new prime minister. Under their rule, they restored British control of Iranian oil with most of the profits being split between Great Britain and the United States. The public was outraged upon the news of the coup because it went against American ideals; overthrowing a democratic leader in favor of a monarch all for-profits masked under the prevention of “Soviet influence” (Wu and Lanz).

Set in motion just one year after the Iranian coup, the CIA-sponsored Gua-

temalan coup of 1954 was all started with the American-owned monopoly, The United Fruit Company. Under the dictatorship of Jorge Ubico Castañeda, 2 percent of the population owned 60 percent of the land in Guatemala with most of it belonging to the United Fruit Company. Ubico’s government collapsed in the 1940s, helping Guatemala push for democracy. United Fruit also had control over the nation’s banana production, utility and railroad industries, Guatemala’s shipping center, and control of one of the biggest ports in the country, Puerto Barrios. These agreements were made in the 1930s by the former Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles. The first elected Guatemalan president, Juan Jose Arevalo, threatened to reverse all of the agreements made and restore industry back to Guatemala. His plans would not be set into motion until Jacóbo Arbenz Guzman was elected in 1951.

Guzman pledged to nationalize all of his country’s arable land that is not cultivated. United Fruit owned forty percent of arable land in Guatemala but only ten percent of which they actually cultivated. Guzman passed Decree 900 in 1954 calling for government seizure of all uncultivated land, snatching up most of the land owned by United Fruit. The Guatemalan government seized about 200,000 acres of land owned by United Fruit. President Eisenhower viewed this maneuver from Guzman as a “discriminatory and unfair seizure,” and was the work of “a puppet manipulated by communists.” The American government continued to try and lavel Guzman as a communist but quickly saw he was trying to implement free-market economic policies so sustaining grounds to orchestrate a coup would be tough. United Fruit had a strong grip hold in Washington D.C. pushing for America to get Guzman out of the office to resume their monopoly and be the major asset to America that it once was. President Eisenhower himself admits in his memoirs that the land Guzman took was not a communists move, further proving America will go as far to overthrow a country to simply protect assets (Mirra Carl).

The CIA would strike once again in the 1964 Brazilian coup. Unlike the Guatemalan and Iranian coups, the Brazilian president, Joao Goulart, was overthrown from the suspicion of creating a communist state in Brazil. The U.S. Ambassador, Lincoln Gordon, stated that Goulart wanted to “make Brazil the China of the 1960s” (Stuster, J. Dana). Goulart started his presidency in 1961 after the resignation of president Janio Quadros (“Joao Goulart”). Some, even within the Brazilian military, did not support Goulart as he just came from a political trip to China. The military initially wanted to veto his presidency. They felt as if he sympathized with communism too much and also felt as if he had some nationalist tendencies. These actions would also land him on the US radar as this was still the height of the Cold War. The Rio Grande do Sul Governador Leonal Brizola mobilized

some of the military to back Goulart so he could become president which worked but forced them to come to an agreement to severely weaken the office of president. Goulart inherited a country in need of growth, stabilization, and crippled by inflation. First off, he would have to restore more power to the office of president which he did in 1963. Goulart’s downfall started at the beginning of 1964 when he announced his plan for Reformas Basicas (Basic Reforms), which had agricultural, financial, electoral, and educational reforms that were meant to benefit the poor. These reforms did not sit well with the conservative military or the many conservatives of the Brazilian public. On March 13, 1964, Goulart held a rally in Rio’s Central do Brasil with his fellow populist Leonel Brizola before a crowd of 150,000 people. In the speech, he announced many more leftist reforms such as, giving voting rights to illiterate people, nationalizing foreign oil industries, and seizure of agricultural land bordering highways and railways. There was outrage from the upper- class as well as the military from the reforms (Green, James).

U.S. involvement goes as far back as 1962 when President Kennedy spoke with his advisor about military options in Brazil.The Kennedy administration feared President Goulart The second action President Kennedy took was sending his brother, Bobby Kennedy, to speak with Goulart to convince him to change the direction of his government. Bobby also spoke with Goulart about the alleged communist, nationalists, and anti- Americans within Goulart’s government. Goulart responded by explaining the bad spot his overall country and political climate was, frustrating Kennedy. In October 1963, Kennedy and his top advisors explored support for the oncoming coup (Pereira, Anthony). After the assaisnation of President Kenndy in November 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson assumed office and started where Kennedy left off.

The Brazilian army made their first move after the outrage of the public. The military coup started on March 31, while Goulart was in Rio (Green, James). Although the Brazilian military carried out the coup, the CIA worked hard from the side lines. The CIA provided full support of the military, sending fuel and weapons as well as inducing rallies against the government in the streets (Stuster, J. Dana). President Goulart went to Brasilia in a last ditch effort to win the support of the public and still have control of his country but it failed. Goulart fled to Rio Grande do Sul, and his presidency was declared vacant (James, Green). The military soon assumed power and ruled the country with an iron fist until 1986. The Brazilian military still continued to fight communist “threats” leaving a bloody trail in its wake. Brazil was a major success for the United States because the overthrowing of Goulart ensured the political influence of America in Brazil. As seen the CIA has infiltrated countries time and time again to either protect financial acquisitions as well as protecting the American ideology. Iran’s beloved

Prime Minister was toppled for trying to bring financial control of the country’s most popular resource. Guzman of Guatemala was thrown to the side for trying to stand up to a major American monopoly. Goulart of Brazil pushed over for going against the American ideology of what a government should be. When will we hold the CIA accountable for being political hitmen?

*Works Cited page available upon request.