Sunday, December 14, 2014

Guatemala--Another Vietnam?


Melville, Thomas & Marjorie, Guatemala--another Vietnam?, Middlesex England: Penguin, 1971.

From the Editorial Foreword:
This is the story told by the Melvilles. It is of the first importance, not just for Guatemala, but also for all Latin America – where land reform remains the key to breaking the power of the continent’s oligarchic social structure. And of course the Melville’s story has a familiar ring, as the title suggests. In South Vietnam, in the areas liberated before 1954, the Viet Minh put through a land reform that expropriated the landlords. After 1954, when the Viet Minh withdrew, the government of Ngo Dinh Diem returned the land to the landlords. In this fertile soil, revolts grow. So too, in Guatemala, the land reform of Arbenz, once put into reverse, created conditions for rebellion.


See also the Catonsville Nine.

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