During the coup in Guatemala City, Che Guevara, a 25-year-old political activist, voiced his strong beliefs about the failure of democracy in Latin America, particularly highlighting the case of Jacobo Árbenz. Guevara attributed this failure to deliberate aggression orchestrated by the United States, pinpointing John Foster Dulles, the U.S. Secretary of State, as a key figure in this intervention. Dulles’s connection to the United Fruit Company, as both a stockholder and attorney, pointed to the conflicts of interest at play.
Guevara believed that due to these events, any chance for revolutionary change through democratic means had been irrevocably lost, paving the way for more radical approaches. His experiences and convictions led him to emerge as a significant leader within the Communist movement that ultimately seized power in Cuba a few years later. This pivotal moment in Guevara’s life marked a shift toward armed revolution, forever shaping his legacy and influence in the broader movements of the time.