serviceyears branch death_date children allegiance birth_date signature term_end alma_mater death_place profession battles order term_start spouse image rank name caption predecessor birth_place unit party office website successor religion article_title birth_name
1932 -- 1954 guatemalan army 27 january 1971 arabella leonora jacobo arbenz , jr. . guatemala 14 september 1913 firmaarbenz.jpg june 27 , 1954 politecnic school mexico city , mexico soldier guatemalan revolution 25th march 15 , 1951 maria cristina villanova 1915 1971 juanjacobo % c3 % 81rbenzguzm % c3 % a1n.png colonel jacobo Árbenz Árbenz during his inauguration in 1951 . juan josé arévalo quetzaltenango , guatemala guardia de honor revolutionary action party president of guatemala official website -lrb- tribute -rrb- carlos enrique díaz de león catholic church jacobo Árbenz
 jacobo Árbenz guzmán
jacobo Árbenz

colonel jacobo Árbenz guzmán -lrb- ; 14 september 1913 -- 27 january 1971 -rrb- , nicknamed also the big blonde -lrb- -rrb- or the swiss -lrb- -rrb- for his swiss origins , was a guatemalan military officer and progressive politician who served as president of guatemala from 1951 to 1954 .
he was previously the minister of defense from 1944 to 1951 .
he was a major figure in the guatemalan revolution .
Árbenz was born in 1913 to a middle-class family , son of a swiss german jakob arbenz gröbli and wealthy guatemalan octavia guzmán caballeros , and graduated with high honors from a military academy in 1935 .
he served in the army until 1944 , steadily rising through the ranks .
during this period , he witnessed the united states backed dictator jorge ubico use the military to brutally suppress agrarian laborers .
as an officer in the army , Árbenz himself was required to escort chain-gangs of prisoners .
this process greatly radicalized him , and he began to form links to the labor movement .
in 1938 he met and married his wife maría vilanova , who was also a great ideological influence on him .
another strong influence on him was josé manuel fortuny , a well-known guatemalan communist , who was one of his main advisers during his government .
in 1944 , ubico 's highly repressive policies resulted in a popular revolt against him , led by students which led to his resignation on july 1 , 1944 .
he left general federico ponce vaides in charge of the military junta heading an interim government .
however , ponce vaides remained in power by force , and this led to a general revolt by several civilian groups and progressive military factions led by Árbenz on october 20 , 1944 .
in the elections that followed , widely seen as free and fair , juan josé arévalo was elected president with 85 % of the vote .
Árbenz was appointed minister of defense , and played a crucial role in putting down a military coup in 1949 , a situation that resulted in the death of colonel francisco javier arana , the other major military figure in the government .
the arévalo government began a highly popular program of social reform , aimed at ending guatemala 's feudalistic labor system , which had been in place since the government of justo rufino barrios .
after the death of arana , Árbenz contested the presidential elections that were held in 1950 without any major opponent , and defeated miguel ydígoras fuentes , his nearest challenger , by a margin of over 50 % .
he took office on march 15 , 1951 , and continued the social reform policies of his predecessor .
these reforms include an expanded right to vote , the ability of workers to organize , legitimizing political parties , and allowing public debate .
the centerpiece of his policy was an agrarian reform law that granted cultivable land to poverty stricken peasants in an attempt to end the system of debt peonage .
his popular policies ran afoul of the united fruit company -lrb- ufco -rrb- , which had major investments in guatemala thanks to the generous concessions granted to it by the governments of manuel estrada cabrera and jorge ubico .
the ufco lobbied to have him overthrown , and Árbenz was ousted in a coup d'état engineered by the united states department of state and the central intelligence agency .
it was led by the brothers john foster dulles and allen dulles , both of whom had major interests in ufco .
Árbenz was replaced by a military junta which eventually handed power to colonel carlos castillo armas .
Árbenz went into a painful exile through several countries , where his family was gradually destroyed , his daughter committed suicide , and he descended more and more into alcoholism .
he eventually died in mexico in 1971 .
