Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

corresponding increase in state sanctioned violence used to put down workers uprisings. As the
Conservative and Liberals struggle for power at the local and federal levels, General Jorge Ubico
Castaneda (1931-1944) is elected ruler in Guatemala. General Ubico came to power in
Guatemala in 1930 after the coffee prices collapsed on the world markets. Elites and ladinos
were looking for a ruler that would “prevent restive, unemployed laborers from gaining an upper
hand;” Ubico was just the person (Cullather, 1999, 9). In April of 1932 Ubico, “sympathetic to
landowners’ concerns,” under Decree 1816 sanctioned the murder of any persons that were
deemed a threat to landowner’s goods or land (Gleijeses, 1991, 13). General Ubico rules
Guatemala with the explicit support of the United States, including the support of United States’
Congressmen, Ambassadors, and Presidents.
The worldwide economic depression of the late 1920s and the 1930s had several effects
in Guatemala, the quetzal continued to depreciate, there was rampant unemployment in the
Mayan populations, and a significant decrease in available credit to the middle classes. The
Ubico regime responded to the crisis by strengthening the existing repressive social, economic
and political frameworks. General Ubico continued to encourage economic development by
furthering the practice of (1) appropriating and leasing land to foreign companies, (2) cutting the
wages of the workers in order to keep expenses low for exporters, (3) forcing the Indian
population to labor on federal projects (roads, telegraphs) and large coffee and banana plantations
for little or no pay, (5) relying on militias in rural areas to repress labor and solidarity movements,
(5) increasing the size and scope of the military and using it to reduce social unrest. General
Ubico continued to oppress and terrorize lowest classes, rural populations, and groups without
access to political power. He replaced local political leaders with military generals, he enforced
and encouraged racial stratification, and he used brutal tactics against political adversaries,
including extensive use of the so called “flight law” where detainees were routinely executed
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