The Horrific Long-Term Consequences Of Regime Change By Jacob G. Hornberger !!!
(2019-03-15 at 14:58:05 )

The Horrific Long-Term Consequences of Regime Change by Jacob G. Hornberger

84-year-old Emma Thiessen Alvarez has never forgotten the day in 1981 when Guatemalan officials came to her house looking for her daughter, a student leader who had escaped from military custody. Unable to find her, the officials settled for Ms Thiessens 14-year-old son. She never saw him again.

Ms Thiesens story was highlighted in a recent New York Times "article" because the Guatemalan legislature is now contemplating granting a blanket amnesty to military officials who participated in the rein of terror that the Guatemalan national-security establishment inflicted on the Guatemalan people for a period of some 36 years.

Ms Thiessen and other Guatemalans who were victimized during that period of time are not happy about the proposed amnesty. As Edgar Perez, a human-rights lawyer, put it, "For the victims, the sentence is their certificate of truth. It is their history."

Guatemalans are not the only ones who have an interest in what is now occurring in that country. So do the American people.

That is because it was the United States national-security establishment that set into motion the events that ultimately led to the death of Ms Emma Thiessen Alvarezs son, along with 200,000 other Guatemalans, as well as to massive human-rights violations at the hands of the Guatemalan national-security establishment.

As United States of Americans reflect on the mass carnage, destruction, and suffering and the hundreds of thousands of deaths produced by United States regime-change efforts in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, and Afghanistan, it is important to also keep in mind the deaths produced by United States regime change in Guatemala in 1954. That was when the Central Intelligence Agency initiated a military coup that succeeded in destroying Guatemalas democratic system and replacing it with a brutal, unelected military dictatorship.

Guatemalan voters had democratically elected a socialist named Jacobo Arbenz, a man whose economic philosophy mirrored those of many American politicians today, both Democrat and Republican. United States officials concluded that Arbenz was a threat to United States national security, not only because of his socialist policies but also owing to his desire to reach out to the communist Soviet Union, including Russia, in a spirt of peace and friendship.

By this time, the United States national-security establishment was waging its Cold War against the Soviet Union, which ironically had been the United States of Americas WWII partner and ally.

The Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency were convinced that the Russians were coming to get us as part of a worldwide communist conspiracy based in Moscow.

In the minds of the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency, Arbenz was part of that communist conspiracy and, therefore, needed to be removed from office before the Reds were able to come and take over the United States.

The Central Intelligence Agency targeted Guatemalan officials with assassination. Americans are still not permitted to see which officials were going to be murdered ("National Security," of course), but surely Arbenz was at the top of the list. He was able to escape the country before the Central Intelligence Agency could assassinate him.

Not surprisingly, the Central Intelligence Agency installed into power a brutal "law and order" military tyrant, one whose military dictatorship proceeded to wage a vicious war against leftist-oriented Guatemalans.

As the leftists fought back, the country was thrown into a violent civil war that lasted 36 years. At least 200,000 people were killed, with the full support of the United States national-security establishment, which took the position that their military regime was protecting the United States of America and the world from the worldwide communist conspiracy that was supposedly based in Moscow and that was supposedly coming to get us.

At the time it succeeded in ousting Arbenz and installing a military regime in his stead, the Central Intelligence Agency was ecstatic over its success. Internal celebrations were held and medals were awarded.

The same thing happened after the Central Intelligence Agencys regime-change operation in Iran in 1953, the year before the Guatemalan regime-change operation.

After succeeding in destroying Irans democratic system and installing, training, and supporting the viciously brutal tyranny of the Shah, the Central Intelligence Agency internally celebrated its success and handed out the medals to those who had brought it about.

Today, more than half-a-century later, Americans, Iranians, and Guatemalans are still living with the horrific long-term consequences of those United States regime-change operations.

It is something for Americans to keep in mind as the United States national-security establishment continues to effect regime-change operations in various parts of the world today.

Just ask 84-year-old Guatemalan Ms Emma Thiessen Alvarez, who still feels the pain of losing her 14-year-old son to United States-supported Guatemalan military brutes.

Printed here with permission from Mr. Jacob G. Hornberger of The Future of Freedom Foundation!! Their Great Website!!