Aldana Sandoval
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Colonel Carlos Aldana Sandoval was a
Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
n
military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...
who was a significant figure in the popular uprising against the government of
Federico Ponce Vaides Juan Federico Ponce Vaides (26 August 1889 – 16 November 1956) was the acting President of Guatemala from 4 July 1944 to 20 October 1944. He was overthrown by a popular uprising on 20 October 1944 that began the Guatemalan Revolution. Life ...
in October 1944. At the time of the uprising, Sandoval held the rank of Major in the Guardia de Honor, a powerful unit of the military. Sandoval, one of the leaders of the plot among the military (along with Jacobo Árbenz), was among those who felt that the plot should remain among the military: however, Árbenz insisted on including civilians in the process. Sandoval was able to persuade Francisco Javier Arana to join the coup in its final stages, but did not participate in the actual coup. Historian
Piero Gleijeses Piero Gleijeses (born 1944 in Venice, Italy) is a professor of United States foreign policy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. He is best known for his scholarly studies of Cuban foreig ...
stated that Sandoval was among the plotters who lost his nerve at the last minute. In 1950, Sandoval was serving as the Minister for Public Works in the government of Juan José Arévalo. At the time, he held the rank of Colonel. After the coup attempt in 1949 by Arana and Arana's subsequent death at the hands of a force led by Árbenz, Sandoval was among the cabinet ministers who were in favor of telling the public the entire truth about Arana's death; however, they were overruled, because Arévalo was afraid the truth would further inflame the citizenry. Sandoval also served as Minister for Communications in the government of Jacobo Árbenz. He was later appointed the Guatemalan government's ambassador to the United States; while in this position, he was known to express concern that the Guatemalan government had leftist tendencies within it. During the
1954 Guatemalan coup d'état The 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état was the result of a CIA covert operation code-named PBSuccess. It deposed the democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz and ended the Guatemalan Revolution of 1944–1954. It installed the mili ...
, he was among those influenced by the Central Intelligence Agency's campaign of psychological warfare: he remarked that the rebel forces led by
Carlos Castillo Armas Carlos Castillo Armas (; 4 November 191426 July 1957) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who was the 28th president of Guatemala, serving from 1954 to 1957 after taking power in a coup d'état. A member of the right-wing Nation ...
were being strengthened by thousands of volunteers, which led to his belief that Árbenz could not hold on to power. Sandoval was a member of a military junta created by
Carlos Enrique Díaz de León Carlos Enrique Díaz de León was the provisional President of Guatemala from 27 June to 29 June 1954. He was replaced by a military junta led by Elfego Monzón. Carlos Enrique Díaz was previously Chief of the Guatemalan Armed Forces under Presi ...
that was supposed to take over the government should Árbenz fall ill. Sandoval eventually sought asylum in the embassy of
El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
.


References


Sources

* * * * {{cite book, last1=Schlesinger, first1=Stephen, last2=Kinzer, first2=Stephen, author2-link=Stephen Kinzer, title=Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala, year=1999, publisher=David Rockefeller Center series on Latin American studies, Harvard University, isbn=978-0-674-01930-0, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zdxqAAAAMAAJ Guatemalan Revolution Guatemalan military personnel Ambassadors of Guatemala to the United States Guatemalan politicians Year of birth missing Year of death missing