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October 20 commemorates Guatemalan revolution

      October 20th is the holiday known
in Guatemala as Revolution Day. It
commemorates the “October Revolution of 1944”
in which a coup led to the overthow of the Federico Ponce Vaidez dictatorship and the presidency of Dr. Juan Jose Arevalo Bermejo.
     The story begins near the end of World War II when Guatemala had been ruled by General Jorge Ubico for more than a decade. In the spring of 1944, a growing coalition of teachers, shopkeepers, skilled workers
and students, unhappy with Ubico, decided enough was enough. The coalition pushed for democracy, in part motivated by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” - a declaration that all people were entitled to freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from
want and fear.
     The first overt act of protest was carried out by teachers
who refused to march, as tradition demanded, in the annual
Teachers Day parade on June 30, 1944. A day before,
protesters began demanding that Ubico step down from power.
Ubico responded by ordering in his cavalry, and some 200
people died.
     Many of the victims became martyrs and the energy
of the movement grew.
     A few days later, 311 teachers, lawyers, doctors, small
businessmen, and other citizens handed Ubico the “Petition of the 311,”  
which supported calls for resignation. This shocked Ubico as many
of the signers were prominent citizens, some whom he considered friends.
     On July 1, Ubico shocked Guatemalans when he resigned and placed
one of his military commanders, General Federico Ponce as president. Ponce’s role did
not improve the situation.
     In the fall of 1944, Guatemala’s most prominent journalist, Alejandro Cordova,
who was also a member of the largely powerless National Legislative Assembly,
sparked a dissident movement with a series of anti-government newspaper articles.
He followed these up with a fiery speech before the Assembly and was assassinated
a few days later, sparking outrage.
     Ponce then called for a free election to present himself for popular ratification.
But teachers sought someone who had no history in the politics. They recommended
Dr. Juan Jose Arevalo Bermejo, himself a teacher who had lived in exile in Argentina
for 14 years.
     On Sept. 2, 1944, Arevalo returned to Guatemala and was met with support by many.
However, Arevalo quickly went into hiding once Ponce issued a warrant for his arrest.
     Ponce never got to participate in the election though. He was forced to flee to Mexico
on Oct. 22, following an armed revolt led by two young officers, Major Francisco Arana and Captain Jacobo Arbenz. Ubico, who was waiting in the wings hoping to return to power, was forced to seek sanctuary in the British Legation.
     Arana and Arbenz were deemed victorious heroes and formed a ruling junta with Jorge Toriello, a prominent businessman. They immediately announced that free elections, the first in the nation’s history under a democratic constitution, would be held soon.
     Arevalo won that election. On March 15, 1945, he took office as the first elected president of Guatemala.
     The action marked the start of the reform era that later led to Arbenz becoming president. But it was Arbenz’s presidency and his land reform policy that sparked a coup against him. That coup essentially started the horrendous 36-year civil war, which resulted in the massacre of an estimated 200,000, mostly indigenous, civilians.


Our lesson today:
1) October 20 is a holiday in Guatemala known as ________________.

2) Who was ruling Guatemala after July 1, 1944?

3) _____________won the first election under a democratic constitution.

4) Who was ruling Guatemala during World War II?

5) The 36-year Civil War in Guatemala caused more than ___________ indigenous deaths.