through page 13 1524 Spanish conquest initiates colonial era. Sept. 15, 1821 Independence from Spain. 1871 "Liberal Reform" begins. Church and Indian lands are expropriated for coffee production. June 1944 Popular pressure forces dictator Jorge Ubico to resign, giving way to a military triumvirate. 1944 Guatemalan revolution ousts the dictator Jorge Ubico Castaiieda (alternate: A coalition led by the urban middle class and dissident military officers overthrows the military junta, initiating a ten-year period of democratic reforms.) 1945 Juan Jose Arevalo is elected president. July 18, 1949 Col. Francisco Arana, Guatemalan armed forces chief, assassinated. May 15 1950 Thomas Corcoran, United Fruit Company lobbyist, meets with Deputy Assistant Secretary for InterAmerican Affairs, Thomas Mann, to suggest action to oust Guatemalan President Juan Jose Arevalo. September 3, 1950 Case officer [ ] assigned to project [ ] arrives in Guatemala City [ ] establishes contact with [ ]), a student group. November 11, 1950 Jacobo Arbenz elected president. 1951 Colonel Jacobo Arbenz takes office after winning presidential elections. March 15 Inauguration August 22, 1951 United Fruit Company warns employees that any increase in labor costs would make its operations in Guatemala uneconomic and force it to withdraw from the country. September 15, 1951 Windstorm flattens United Fruit's principal Guatemalan banana farms at Tiquisate; United Fruit later announces it will not rehabilitate plantation until it has completed study of economics of Guatemalan operation. September 16, 1951 United Fruit suspends 3 ,742 Tiquisate employees, refuses to comply with order of Inspector General of Labor to reinstate the suspended employees. October 30, 1951 Walter Turnbull, Vice President of United Fruit, gives Arbenz ultimatum. United Fruit will not rehabilitate plantation without assurance of stable labor costs for three years and exemption from unfavorable labor laws or exchange controls. December 19, 1951 United Fruit announces reduction in passenger ship service to Guatemala. January 2, 1951 Labor Court of Appeals rules United Fruit must resume operations at Tiquisate and pay 3,742 employees back wages. 1952 The Agrarian Reform law is adopted. (alt: June 17, 1952 Arbenz enacts Agrarian Reform Law.) March 25, 1952 Mexico City [ ] begins receiving weekly reports from Castillo Armas. June 16, 1952 Case officer [ ] arrives in Guatemala [ ] July 10, 1952 DDP Allen Dulles meets with Mann to solicit State Department approval for plan to overthrow Arbenz. August 7, 1952 Distribution of land under the Agrarian Reform Law begins. August 18 1952 DCI gives approval for PBFORTUNE. OCtober 2, 1952 Pan American Airways settles three-month-old strike in Guatemala by raising wages 23 percent. December 11, 1952 Guatemalan Communist party opens second party congress with senior Arbenz administration officials in attendance. December 12, 1952 Workers at United Fruit's Tiquisate plantation file for expropriation of 55,000 acres of United Fruit land. December 19, 1952 Guatemalan Communist party, PGT, legalized. 1953 The Arbenz government confiscates four hundred thousand acres of uncultivated United Fruit Company land and begins land redistribution. (alt: February 25 1953 Guatemala confiscates 234,000 acres of United Fruit land.) February 5, 1953 Congress impeaches the Supreme Court for "ignorance of the law which shows unfitness and manifest incapacity to administer justice" after the Court issued an injunction against further seizures of land. March 18, 1953 NSC 144/1, "United States Objectives and Courses with Respect to Latin America," warns of a "drift in the area toward radical and nationalistic regimes." March 29 1953, Salama uprising. Abortive rebellion touches off suppression campaign against anti-Communists in Guatemaia. August 12, 1953 National Security Council authorizes covert action against Guatemala. September 11, 1953 [ ] adviser to King, submits "General Plan of Action" for PBSUCCESS. October 1953 John Peurifoy, new US Ambassador, arrives in Guatemala City. November 9, 1953 Jose Manuel Fortuny flies to Prague to negotiate purchase of arms. November 16, 1953 DDP Frank Wisner approves [ ] plan and recommends acceptance by DCI. December 9, 1953 DCI Allen Dulles approves general plan for PBSUCCESS, allocates $ 3million for the program. December 23, 1953 CIA's LINCOLN Station opens [ ] January 18, 1954 Alfonso Martinez, head of the Agrarian Department, "flees" to Switzerland. Proceeds to Prague to negotiate arms deal. January 25, 1954 Guatemalan Government begins mass arrests of suspected subversives. January 29 1954 Guatemalan white paper accuses US of planning invasion. Reveals substantial details of PBSUCCESS. February 2, 1954 Sydney Gruson, New York Times correspondent, expelled from Guatemala by Guatemalan Foreign Minister Guillermo Toriello. [ ] Wisner, King meet to decide whether to abort PBSUCCESS due to white paper revelations. February 19 1954 Operation WASHTUB, a plan to plant a phony Soviet arms cache in Nicaragua, begins. February 24, 1954 Guatemala confiscates 173,000 acres of United Fruit land. March 1, 1954 Caracas meeting of the OAS opens. March 4, 1954 Dulles speaks to Caracas meeting. March 5, 1954 Toriello rebuts US charges. March 13, 1954 OAS votes 17 to I to condemn Communism in Guatemala. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles briefed on PBSUCCESS. March 21 1954 Paramilitary training program graduates 37 Guatemalan sabotage trainees. April 9, 1954 Guatemalan Archbishop Mariano Rossell y Arrellana issues a pastoral letter calling for a national crusade against Communism. April 10, 1954 Wisner briefs Assistant Secretary of State Henry Holland on PBSUCCESS. Holland, shocked by security lapses, demands top-level review of project. April 15-16 1954 Black flights suspended pending top-level review of PBSUCCESS. April 17, 1954 John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles give [ ] the "full green light." April 20, 1954 Paramilitary training program graduates 30 leadership trainees. May 1, 1954 La Voz de fa Liberacion, Operation SHERWOOD, begins broadcasts. May 14 1954 Paramilitary training program graduates communications trainees. May 15 1954 SS Alfhem docks in Puerto Barrios with cargo of Czech weapons. MAy 20 1954 Commando raid on trainload of Alfhem weapons. One soldier and one saboteur killed. Further sabotage attempts on 2 I and 25 May. All fail. Official Guatemalan radio goes off the air to replace transmitter. Does not restart broadcasts until mid-June. Nicaragua breaks diplomatic relations with Guatemala. May 24, 1954 US Navy begins Operation HARDROCK BAKER, sea blockade of Guatemala. May 29 1954 Arbenz rounds up subversives, netting nearly all of Castillo Armas's clandestine apparatus. May 31 1954 Arbenz offers to meet with Eisenhower to reduce tensions. June 4, 1954 Col. Rodolfo Mendoza of Guatemalan air force defects to El Salvador with private plane. June 8, 1954 Victor Manuel Gutierrez, secretary general of the Guatemalan trade union federation, holds a special meeting of farm and labor unions to urge them to mobilize for self-defense. June 15, 1954 Sabotage teams launched. Invasion forces moved to staging areas. Chief of Station [ ] makes cold approach to [ ] prime defection candidate. June 17 1954 [] meets again with [] requests bombing of Guatemala City race track as demonstration of strength. 18 June 1954 At 1700 hours, Arbenz holds mass rally at railroad station. Buzzed by CIA planes. At 2020 hours, Castillo Armas crosses the border. 19 June 1954 At 01 50 hours, bridge at Gualan blown up. 20 June 1954 Esquipulas captured. Rebels defeated at Gualan. 21 June 1954 Largest rebel force suffers disastrous defeat at Puerto Barrios. 25 June 1954 Matamoros Fortress bombed. Chiquimula captured. CIA planes strafe troop trains. 27 June 1954 Arbenz capitulates. Castillo Armas attacks Zacapa, is defeated, and falls back to Chiquimula. Agency plane bombs British freighter at San Jose. 28 June 1954 Dfaz, Sanchez, and Monzon form junta at II45 hours. Refused to negotiate with Castillo. F-47 dropped two bombs at 1530 hours. 29 June 1954 Monzon seizes junta, requests negotiations with Castillo Armas. Zacapa garrison arranges cease-fire with Castillo Armas. 30 June 1954 Wisner sends "Shift of Gears" cable, urging officers to withdraw from matters of policy. 1 July 1954 Monzon and Castillo Armas meet in Honduras to mediate differences. 2 July 1954 SHERWOOD ceases broadcasts, begins withdrawal. 4-17 July 1954 CIA documents recovery team, PBHISTORY, collects 150,000 Communist-related documents in Guatemala City. 12 July 1954 LINCOLN office closed. 1 September 1954 Castillo Armas assumes presidency. 1954 President Arbenz deposed; "liberation" by Castillo Armas and the CIA (Alternative: Arbenz is overthrown and Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas installed in a CIA-planned and -financed invasion and coup. Land reform is reversed, popular organizations crushed and thousands killed.) 1957 Castillo Armas is assassinated. (alt: 26 July 1957 Castillo Armas assassinated.) 1958 General Miguel Y digoras Fuentes is elected president. 1960 Ydigoras allows the United States to train Cuban exiles in Guatemala for the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. 1960 The Central American Common Market is formed. November 13, 1960 A major military uprising against Y digoras, involving one-third of the army, is suppressed. Mar. April 1962 Massive demonstrations by students and workers in Guatemala City against the Ydigoras government. 1962 The Rebel Armed Forces (FAR) guerrilla organization is formed and begins antigovernment activity in the mountains of northeastern Guatemala. 1963 Army coup consolidates military control of the government; Gen. Enrique Peralta Azurdia heads the regime Mar 1963 Ydigoras is overthrown in a coup led by Colonel Enrique Peralta Azurdia. 1965 The chief of the U.S. military mission is killed and a state of siege declared. 1966 Julio Cesar Mendes Montenegro, a civilian, elected president Ca. 1968 Colonel Arana defeats the guerrillas in the eastern zone (Alternative: 1966-1969 United States increases military and economic aid to Guatemala, and army counterinsurgency campaigns and repression by right-wing paramilitary squads intensify. U.S. sends Green Berets, guerrillas are decimated and thousands are killed.) 1970 Gen. Carlos Arana Osorio elected president (alt: Colonel Carlos Arana Osorio is elected president. A oneyear state of siege is imposed in November and a new wave of government repression begins.) 1970 La Esperanza cooperative initiated in the Ixcan 1972 Rise of Ejercito Guatemalteco de los Pobres (EGP), centering in northern Quiche 1974 Election of Christian Democrat Rios Montt stolen by the army; Gen. Kjell Laugerud Garcia becomes president (alt: Official presidential candidate, General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud Garcia, is chosen over apparent election winner General Efrain Rios Montt.) 1975 EGP guerrillas execute plantation owner Luis Arenas 1975 The Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP) initiates guerrilla activity in the northern part of the Quiche province. 1976 Rosa Aguayo, teacher of "La Esperanza" cooperative, murdered Earthquake kills more than 25,000 persons 1976 A massive earthquake leaves over 22,000 dead, 77,000 injured and one million homeless. 1976 Father Woods, director of Ixcan Grande cooperative, dies in plane crash. April 1976 The CNUS (Comite Nacional de Unidad Sindical/National Committee of Trade Union Unity) is formed. (alt: The National Committee of Trade Union Unity (CNUS) is formed.) Nov 19, 1977 A protest march of miners from Ixtahuacan, Huehuetenango is met by one hundred thousand supporters in Guatemala City. March 1978 A public workers' strike shortly before presidential elections forces the government to approve wage hikes. March 1978 General Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia is elected president in an openly rigged contest. April 15, 1978 The cuc (Comite de Unidad Campesina/Committee of Peasant Unity) comes to public light. (alt: The Committee of Campesino Unity is formed.) May 29, 1978 The Panzos massacre occurs in the department of Alta Verapaz in which one hundred Kekchi Indians are killed by the Guatemalan military. (alt: Over one hundred Kekchi Indians are killed by government troops and armed landowners in Panzos, Alta Verapaz.) July 1, 1978 General Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia becomes president of Guatemala and heads up four years of widespread terror and repression. October 1978 A general strike and large spontaneous protests in Guatemala City force the government to revoke a 100 percent city bus fare hike. October 20, 1978 Oliverio Castaneda de Leon, president of the Association of University Students, is gunned down two blocks from the National Palace in Guatemala City. 1978 Horacio Arroyave Paniagua dams river in San Antonio Aguas Calientes Panzos massacre (are these two things or one?) January 25, 1979 Dr. Alberto Fuentes Mohr, former government minister and leader of the Democratic Socialist Party, is assassinated in Guatemala City. February 24, 1979 The Democratic Front Against Repression (FDCR) is formed. 1979 Death-squad killings begin in San Antonio Aguas Calientes Mar 23, 1979 Manuel Colom Argueta, founder and leader of the socialdemocratic United Revolutionary Front party, is killed in Guatemala City. 1979 Organization of the People in Arms (ORPA) guerrilla group begins public operations in the western highlands (alt: Sept. 18, 1979 The Organization of the People in Arms (ORPA), a guerrilla organization, announces its existence.) January 31, 1980 Thirty-nine people are burned to death when the Guatemalan police set fire to the Spanish Embassy, which peasant and student leaders had peacefully taken over to denounce repression in the countryside. (Occupation of Spanish embassy; alt: Part of a group of campesinos who had come to Guatemala City from Quiche to protest army repression in their villages occupies the Spanish Embassy together with supporters. Police storm and firebomb the embassy building, killing thirty-nine.) February March 1980 Nearly eighty thousand Indian and ladino farmworkers go out on strike, forcing the government to raise the minimum wage for farmworkers. 1980 San Pedro la Laguna visited by ORPA guerrillas; reign of terror begins in the communiry shortly thereafter 1980 Avelino Zapeta, mayor of Santa Cruz del Quiche, assassinated May 1, 1980 Dozens of participants in the Workers' Day march are disappeared and killed. (Alt: Forty thousand turn out for the May Day protest march in Guatemala City, the last above-ground demonstration to take place in Guatemala. Dozens of demonstrators are kidnapped in the course of the march.) June 21, 1980 Twenty-seven union leaders are kidnapped and disappeared from the offices of the CNT (Central Nacional de Trabajadores/National Workers' Central). (alt: Twenty-seven trade union leaders are kidnapped from the Guatemala City headquarters of the National Confederation of Labor (CNT).) July 14, 1980 Armed men indiscriminately shoot at students stepping off public buses at the University of San Carlos, killing several. July 20, 1980 After the murder of two priests and two attempts on the life of the bishop, the Catholic Diocese of Quiche is closed. August 1980 The army gathers residents of San Juan Cotzal, Quiche, and shoots sixty male villagers. August 24, 1980 Seventeen unionists are disappeared from a labor education course held at Emaus, a town in the department of Escuintla. (Seventeen trade union leaders from the CNT are kidnapped from a Catholic retreat house in Palin, Escuintla.) August 28, 1980 A violent five-year-long labor conflict at Guatemala's U.S.-owned Coca-Cola franchise is resolved after an international union-led boycott forces the parent company to intervene. 1980 La Estancia hamlet attacked by army; its inhabitants leave September 6 1980 The army attacks the town of Chajul, Quiche, bombing the convent, beating and interrogating residents and killing at least thirty-six. Oct 1980 ORPA joins EGP, FAR and the Leadership Nucleus of the Guatemalan Workers' Party (PGT) in a guerrilla alliance. January 1981 The guerrilla alliance initiates a coordinated campaign aimed at preventing the intervention of Guatemalan troops in El Salvador during the Salvadoran guerrillas' general offensive. January 1981 The January 31st Popular Front (FP-3 1) announces 'its formation. 1981 Hotel in Panajachel bombed by guerrillas (?) 1981 Major army counterinsurgency operations in Chimaltenango and Quiche, according to Falla (alt: An estimated fifteen hundred Indian campesinos are reported killed in army massacres in the Chimaltenango province.) 1981 Massacre in Chupol, Chichicastenango April 9, 1981 Twenty-four people are massacred by machete in the village of Chuabajito in San Martin Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango. April 15, 1981 Forty to one hundred campesinos are massacred in the village of Cocob in Nebaj, Quiche. April 31, 1981 At least thirty-six campesinos are killed in an army attack on the town of San Mateo Ixtatan, Huehuetenango. 1981 Civil patrols organized in Santa Cruz del Quiche May 1981 The army bombs and lays siege to the villages of Tres Aguadas, El Caoba, EI Remate, and Paxmacan in the Peten province. Five hundred seek refuge in Mexico and within days are deported back to Guatemala. June 1981 Nineteen rural cooperatives in the Peten province are attacked by the army. At least fifty people are killed and 3,500 flee to Mexico. March 23, 1982 General Efrain Rios Montt becomes president of Guatemala after a military coup. June 10, 1981 The Reagan administration approves the sale of $3.2 million worth of military jeeps and trucks to the Lucas government. July 1981 Most of the campesinos from the Peten cooperatives who had sought refuge in Mexico are deported back to Guatemala. July 19, 1981 Two hundred soldiers attack the village of Coya, Huehuetenango, as residents attempt to resist with machetes, sticks and stones. One hundred fifty to three hundred villagers are killed. July 19, 1981 (?) Among a series of guerrilla actions commemorating the 1979 Nicaraguan revolution, five hundred guerrillas occupy the tourist town of Chichicastenango, Quiche. July 28, 1981 U.S. priest Stanley Rother is killed in Santiago Atitlan, Solola. August 12, 1981 As many as one thousand campesinos are killed in army attacks on two villages in San Sebastian Lemoa, Quiche. September 1981 The army kills about seven hundred in San Miguel Chicaj and Rabinal, Baja Vera paz. Oct-Dec 1981 Soldiers burn homes, crops and kill as many as one thousand in the Chupol region of Chichicastenango, Quiche. October 10-20, 1981 Guerrillas launch a series of bombing and military attacks on police, government and economic targets in Guatemala City. October 28, 1981 Guerrillas simultaneously mount attacks on two provincial capitals, Mazatenango and Solola, and briefly occupy the latter. November 1981 The army carries out a major counterinsurgency offensive in the Chimaltenango province. November 22, 1981 Emeterio Toj, leader of CUC and EGP member, escapes from a Guatemala City military base close to four months after he was kidnapped by government security forces. Dec 2, 1981 Five hundred guerrillas attack army posts in Santa Cruz del Quiche. January 1982 A major counterinsurgency offensive is launched in the Ouiche, Chimaltenango, Huehuetenango and San Marcos provinces. January 19, 1982 A large guerrilla force attacks and nearly overruns the San Juan Cotzal, Quiche military base. Feb. 7, 1982 The EGP, FAR, ORPA and the Leadership Nucleus of the PGT announce their unification under the umbrella of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG). Mid-february 1982 Exiled leaders of different organizations, sectors, and ideological persuasions form the Guatemalan Committee of Patriotic Unity (CGUP), endorsing the URNG and their points for a program of government. March 7 1982 General Angel Anibal Guevara, official presidential candidate, wins a plurality in elections amidst charges of fraud by the three right-wing opposition candidates. March 23, 1982 A bloodless palace coup overthrows the Lucas government before power is transfered to Guevara. General Efrain Rios Montt is installed as head of a three-man military junta. March 23, 1982 (?) Five hundred people are killed by soldiers in the villages of Parraxtut, El Pajarito and Pichiquil, Quiche. Mar. 24-27, 1982 Helicopter bombing raids kill one hundred in the villages of Las Pacayas, Cisiram, El Rancho, Quixal, and Chuyuc in San Cristobal Verapaz, Alta Verapaz. Mar. 28-Apr. 10, 1982 Soldiers kill two hundred fifty and burn down the villages of Estancia de la Virgen, Chicocon, Choatalun and Chipila in San Martin Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango. Apr. 3-5, 1982 Soldiers kill most of the residents of Chel, Jua and Amachel in Chajul, Quiche. In one of the villages the women are raped, the men beheaded, and the children tossed against the rocks of a river bed. Apr. 3-5, 1982 Over one hundred are killed in the village of Mangal in Chajul, Quiche. April 12, 1982 The army burns down houses, fields, and forests in San Antonio Ixchiguan, San Marcos. Apr. 15, 1982 Soldiers kill over a hundred children and seventy-three women in Rio Negro, Baja Verapaz. The bodies of the women are found hanging from the trees with their children on their backs. April 18, 1982 The villages of Agua Escondida and Xugiiexa II in Chichicastenango, Quiche, are abandoned after the houses and fields are set afire. April 18, 1982 Fifty-four persons are beheaded in Macalbaj, Quiche, and the entire village burned down. Apr. 20, 1982 One hundred campesinos are massacred in the village of Josefinos in La Libertad, Peten. Apr. 29, 1982 Two hundred campesinos are killed in Cuarto Pueblo, Quiche, and houses, crops and forests burned down. June 1982 One hundred campesinos are killed in the village of Pampach in Tactic, Alta Verapaz. June 1982 One hundred sixty of the one hundred eighty families living in the town of Chisec, Alta Verapaz, are massacred. June 9, 1982 General Rios Montt declares himself president and sale ruler of Guatemala and the two other junta members resign. July 1, 1982 Rios Montt declares a state of siege. 1982 Army destroys La Esperanza cooperative in the Ixcin 1982 Selective violence in San Juan Ostuncalco ends with appointment of mayor by Rios Montt government 1982 Horacio Arroyave killed in Guatemala City 1982 Pastor Nicolas Toma begins collaboration with army in Cotzal 1982 Massacres in Patzun, Baja Verapaz, and Alta Verapaz described by Falla 1982 Schoolteacher Emilio, of Totonicapan, returns to Alta Verapaz to find his village "disappeared" 1982 Indian refugees settle in a Chamula colony of Chiapas, Mexico 1982 Evangelicals celebrate 100 years of missionary labors in Guatemala 1982 Army begins scorched-earth campaign in Huehuetenango 1982 352 men, women, and children massacred in Finca San francisco January 7, 1983 The Reagan administration lifts the five-year-old embargo on arms sales to Guatemala, approving the sale of over $6.3 million worth of helicopter spare parts and military equipment. Jan. 25-26, 1983 Guatemalan soldiers and government civil patrols enter Mexico and kill four refugees at Santiago el Vertice and La Hamaca refugee camps in Chiapas. Mar. 3, 1983 Six men are shot by firing squad three days before the arrival of Pope John Paul II, and despite his pleas for clemency. This was the second mass execution of persons tried in Guatemala's secret military tribunals. 1983 Militarization of Santa Cruz Quiche aldeas completed 1983 "La Esperanza" (Ixcan) resettled under army supervision August 8, 1983 General Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores overthrows Rios Montt and becomes president. 1984 Guatemalan refugees forcibly removed from Chiapas to Campeche and Quintana Roo, Mexico 1984 Nearly half of Totonicapan artisans go out of business February 1984 to March 1985 Hundreds of unionists occupy the Coca-Cola bottling plant to protest the illegal plant closing; they win. June 1984 GAM (Grupo de Apoyo Mutua/Mutual Support Group for Families of the Disappeared) is founded. 1985 Chief military commissioner and his uncle murdered om San Pedro la Laguna February 1985 UNSITRAGUA (Unidad Sindical de Trabajadores de Guatemala/ Unity of Guatemalan Workers) is founded as a result of organizing meetings held in the occupied Coca-Cola bottling plant. January 14, 1986 Christian Democrat Vinicio Cerezo, the first civilian president of Guatemala in twenty years, takes power. June 1986 UITA (Union Internacional de Trabajadores de Alimentos y Similares), the Guatemalan office of the IUF, the International Union of Food and Allied Workers, opens. 1986 - 1987 Selective "disappearances and killings continute throughout Guatemala, as do armed encounters between the army and guerrillas; a trickle of Indian refugees return to Guatemala from Mexico and elsewhere. June 1987 to August 1988 Workers of the Lunafil thread factory occupy the plant to protest obligatory twelve-hour workshifts; they win. November 1987 The union of workers of the Accumuladores Victor car-battery factory is legally recognized. Eleven days later the plant is illegally closed by its owners. December 1987 The UASP (Unidad de Acci6n Sindical y Popular/Unity of Labor and Popular Action) is formed.