Decree 900
Encyclopedia
Decree 900 was a Guatemala
n land reform
law
ordered on June 27, 1952 by President
Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán
. This decree
redistributed unused lands of sizes greater than 223 acres (0.902 km²) to local peasants. Proponents of the law stated that is was intended to “eliminate all feudal type property...especially work-servitude and the remnant of slavery.” 1 It expropriated the unused lands of large plantations (estates with lands fully in use were exempted from the law), paying the oligarchs whose lands were expropriated through government bonds.
Because of the Agrarian Reform Law, the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
in August 1952 announced that it would no longer purchase Guatemalan chicle
. Since Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
had been the sole buyer of the product, the Arbenz government suddenly had to provide a massive aid program for chicle
harvesters. 2
In 1953 Arbenz announced that under the Agrarian Reform Law Guatemala was expropriating 234,000 acres (947 km²) of uncultivated land from the United Fruit Company
. United Fruit owned 550000 acres (2,225.8 km²) in Guatemala, 42% of the nation’s (arable) land.3 The United Fruit Company had reduced its tax burden in Guatemala by declaring a low value for its land, much lower than it would later claim it was worth. The company was compensated with $627,572 in bonds for the expropriation of their holdings, the amount United Fruit had claimed the land was worth for tax purposes. United Fruit continued its lobbying campaign for US intervention. The US State Department, on behalf of the United Fruit Company, claimed to Guatemala that the land was worth $15,854,849. 4
By 1954, 100,000 families had received land as well as bank credit and technical aid for sowing and marketing. The countrywide union block which ran the program was under non-communist leadership until 1954.
In 1954 the CIA-organized covert operation Operation PBSUCCESS
overthrew the democratically-elected President of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán
.
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
ordered on June 27, 1952 by President
President of Guatemala
The title of President of Guatemala has been the usual title of the leader of Guatemala since 1839, when that title was assumed by Mariano Rivera Paz...
Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán
Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán
Colonel Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as Defense Minister of Guatemala from 1944–1951, and as President of Guatemala from 1951 to 1954....
. This decree
Decree
A decree is a rule of law issued by a head of state , according to certain procedures . It has the force of law...
redistributed unused lands of sizes greater than 223 acres (0.902 km²) to local peasants. Proponents of the law stated that is was intended to “eliminate all feudal type property...especially work-servitude and the remnant of slavery.” 1 It expropriated the unused lands of large plantations (estates with lands fully in use were exempted from the law), paying the oligarchs whose lands were expropriated through government bonds.
Because of the Agrarian Reform Law, the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
The William Wrigley Jr. Company is a company headquartered in the Wrigley Building in Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded on April 1, 1891, originally selling products such as soap and baking powder. In 1892, William Wrigley, Jr., the company's founder, began packaging...
in August 1952 announced that it would no longer purchase Guatemalan chicle
Chicle
Manilkara chicle is a tropical evergreen tree native to Mexico and Central America. The tree ranges from Veracruz in Mexico south to Atlántico in Colombia...
. Since Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
The William Wrigley Jr. Company is a company headquartered in the Wrigley Building in Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded on April 1, 1891, originally selling products such as soap and baking powder. In 1892, William Wrigley, Jr., the company's founder, began packaging...
had been the sole buyer of the product, the Arbenz government suddenly had to provide a massive aid program for chicle
Chicle
Manilkara chicle is a tropical evergreen tree native to Mexico and Central America. The tree ranges from Veracruz in Mexico south to Atlántico in Colombia...
harvesters. 2
In 1953 Arbenz announced that under the Agrarian Reform Law Guatemala was expropriating 234,000 acres (947 km²) of uncultivated land from the United Fruit Company
United Fruit Company
It had a deep and long-lasting impact on the economic and political development of several Latin American countries. Critics often accused it of exploitative neocolonialism and described it as the archetypal example of the influence of a multinational corporation on the internal politics of the...
. United Fruit owned 550000 acres (2,225.8 km²) in Guatemala, 42% of the nation’s (arable) land.3 The United Fruit Company had reduced its tax burden in Guatemala by declaring a low value for its land, much lower than it would later claim it was worth. The company was compensated with $627,572 in bonds for the expropriation of their holdings, the amount United Fruit had claimed the land was worth for tax purposes. United Fruit continued its lobbying campaign for US intervention. The US State Department, on behalf of the United Fruit Company, claimed to Guatemala that the land was worth $15,854,849. 4
By 1954, 100,000 families had received land as well as bank credit and technical aid for sowing and marketing. The countrywide union block which ran the program was under non-communist leadership until 1954.
In 1954 the CIA-organized covert operation Operation PBSUCCESS
Operation PBSUCCESS
The 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état was a covert operation organized by the United States Central Intelligence Agency to overthrow Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, the democratically-elected President of Guatemala....
overthrew the democratically-elected President of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán
Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán
Colonel Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as Defense Minister of Guatemala from 1944–1951, and as President of Guatemala from 1951 to 1954....
.
Footnotes
- Note 1: , pg 118, Citing Blanche Wiesen Cook, The Declassified Eisenhower (Garden City, N.Y., 1981), page 224; Neale J. Pearson, "Guatemala: The Peasant Union Movement, 1944-1954," in Latin American Peasant.Wovements ed. Henry A. Landsberger (Ithaca, 1969), page 224
- Note 2: , pg 119, Citing Donald Dozer, Are We Good Neighbors? Inter American Relations 1930 1960 (Gainesville, Fla., 1959), page 264
- Note 3: , pg 120; Citing Graham H. Stuart, and James L. Tigner, Latin America and the United States, 6th ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1975), page 519-520; Blanche Wiesen Cook, The Declassified Eisenhower (Garden City, N.Y., 1981), page 221-225
- Note 4: , pg 76