Operation PBHistory (1954)

Sun Jul 04, 1954

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Operation PBHistory was a covert CIA operation that began on this day in 1954, following their ousting of Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz, seeking to damage his reputation, disseminate propaganda, and spy on Latin American communists.

PBHistory followed Operation PBSuccess, which led to the overthrow of Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz in June 1954 and ended the Guatemalan Revolution, a decade long period of social reforms and representative democracy.

PBHistory seized documents (more than 500,000 in total) left behind by Árbenz’s government and organizations related to the communist Guatemalan Party of Labor, attempting to use them to promote propaganda that Guatemala was under the control of the Soviet Union and obtain intelligence that would be useful in undermining left-wing movements in Latin America. One consequence of this intelligence was the CIA beginning to track Che Guevara, who was then only known to the Agency as a physician.

Operation PBHistory also helped set up the Guatemalan National Committee of Defense Against Communism, which was covertly funded by the CIA and responsible for mass repression of the population.

Despite successfully obtaining intelligence and collaborating with the new government of Castillo Armas (a vehement anti-communist on the CIA payroll who led the coup against Árbenz), the psy-op was not successful in undermining Árbenz’s reputation or fostering pro-U.S. sentiment throughout Latin America.