In 1953, under President Eisenhower, the CIA drew up the plans for assassinations, sabotage and propaganda to overthrow Arbenz. Late that year, the National Security Council gave the green light. The State Department, led by John Foster Dulles, worked closely with the CIA, which was headed by Allen W. Dulles, his brother. The official CIA history of the coup claims that the assassinations were not carried out, but only because they weren't necessary. No record of the formal approval or disapproval of these plans by President Eisenhower or the Dulles brothers has been made public.
None likely exists.
Resistance to the military regime flared up many times in the form of guerilla warfare and never completely died out. The CIA historian who wrote its official history was Nick Cullather, who now teaches at Indiana University. It took five years for the CIA to admit that there were no such files. This article was posted on the G reen L eft W eekly H ome P age.