Jorge Ubico

Jorge Ubico Castañeda (10 November 1878 – 14 June 1946), nicknamed Number Five or also Central America's Napoleon, was a Guatemalan dictator. A general in the Guatemalan army, he was elected to the presidency in 1931, in an election where he was the only candidate. He continued his predecessors' policies of giving massive concessions to the United Fruit Company and wealthy landowners, as well as supporting their harsh labor practices.[1][2] Ubico has been described as "one of the most oppressive tyrants Guatemala has ever known" who compared himself to Adolf Hitler.[3] He was removed by a pro-democracy[4] uprising in 1944, which led to the ten-year Guatemalan Revolution.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Ubico and the second or maternal family name is Castañeda.

General of Division Jorge Ubico Castañeda
21st President of Guatemala
In office 14 February 1931 – 1 July 1944
Preceded by	José María Reina
Succeeded by	Federico Ponce Vaides
Leader of the Liberal Progressive Party of Guatemala
In office 1926 – 1 July 1944
Personal details
Born	(1878-11-10)10 November 1878 Guatemala City, Guatemala
Died	14 June 1946(1946-06-14) (aged 67) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Political party	Progressive Liberal Party
Spouse(s)	Marta Lainfiesta ( m. 1905⁠–⁠1946) ; his death
Profession	Soldier
Signature
Military service
Nickname(s)	Number Five Central America's Napoleon
Allegiance	Guatemala
Branch/service	Military of Guatemala
Years of service	1896–1944
Rank	General
Battles/wars	War Totoposte (1903–06) 1921 Guatemalan coup d'état

Early years

Arturo Ubico Urruela, father of General Ubico.

Jorge Ubico was the son of Arturo Ubico Urruela, a lawyer and politician of the Guatemalan liberal party. Ubico Urruela was a member of the legislature that wrote the Guatemalan Constitution of 1879, and was subsequently the president of the Guatemalan Congress during the government of Manuel Estrada Cabrera (1898-1920). Jorge Ubico was privately tutored, and attended some of Guatemala's most prestigious schools, as well as receiving further education in the United States and Europe.

By 1897 Ubico received his commission into the Guatemalan army as a second lieutenant, a commission which was largely due to his political connections. He rapidly established himself in the army and rose through the ranks, and, after a military campaign against El Salvador, held the rank of colonel at the age of 28. A year later, he was made the governor (jefe politico) of the province of Alta Verapaz, followed four years later as governor of Retalhuleu.

During his tenure, he oversaw improvements in public works, the school system, public health, and youth organizations. In 1918, he drained swamps, ordered fumigation and distributed free medicine to combat a yellow fever epidemic, and won the praise of Major General William C. Gorgas, who had done the same in Panama. However, most of his reputation came from his harsh but effective punishment of banditry and smuggling across the Mexican border.

He returned to Guatemala City in 1921 to participate in a coup that installed General José Orellana into the presidency, after the sitting president Carlos Herrera y Luna refused to ratify the concessions that Estrada Cabrera had made to the United Fruit Company. Under Orellana he was appointed Secretary of War in 1922, but quit a year later. In 1926, after the death of President Orellana, Ubico ran unsuccessfully for president as the candidate of the Political Progressive Party. He temporarily retired to his farm until the next election.

Guatemalan instability

National Police Headquarters during Ubico's regime.

On December 1930, President Lazaro Chacón was forced to resign after having a stroke. By that time, Guatemala was in the midst of the Great Depression and bankrupt; Chacón's successor, Baudilio Palma, was deposed by a coup d'etat after only four days in office and was replaced by Gral. Manuel María Orellana. The United States opposed the new government and demanded Orellana resign; he was forced to leave the presidency in favor of José María Reina Andrade.[5][6]

Election

The Liberal Party allied with the Progressives to nominate Ubico as Andrade's successor, in an election where Ubico was the only candidate on the ballot. In February 1931 he was elected with 305,841 votes.[7] In his inaugural address, he pledged a "march toward civilization". Once in office, he began a campaign of efficiency which included assuming dictatorial powers.[7]

Government

Military dictatorship

Ubico's rule has been characterized as totalitarian;[8] John Gunther, who visited the country during 1941, described Guatemala as "a country 100 per cent dominated by a single man."[9] Added Gunther: "He [Ubico] has spies and agents everywhere, and knows everyone's private business to an amazing degree. Not a pin drops in Guatemala without his knowing it."[10] Guatemala under Ubico was likened to "a modern jail."[11]

He militarized numerous political and social institutions—including the post office, schools, and symphony orchestras—and placed military officers in charge of many government posts. He frequently traveled around the country performing "inspections" in dress uniform followed by a military escort, a mobile radio station, an official biographer, and cabinet members.[12][13][14][15][16]

UFCO and relations with the US

Ubico considered Guatemala to be the closest ally of the United States in Central America. Adopting a pro-USA stance to promote economic development and recovery from depression, the United Fruit Company under Ubico became the most important company in Guatemala. It received import duty and real estate tax exemptions from the government and controlled more land than any other group or individual. It also controlled the sole railroad in the country, the sole facilities capable of producing electricity, and the port facilities at Puerto Barrios on the Atlantic coast.[17][18][19][20][21]

Relations with Germany

As part of a goodwill worldwide tour promoting the Berlin 1936 Summer Olympics, in January of that year the German light cruiser Emden arrived to Guatemala. Its crew travelled by train to Guatemala City where they paraded in front of Ubico's Army staff and the general public.

Middle class

While the middle class grew substantially during Ubico's regime,[22] the basic character of the regime remained oligarchical and his regime primarily benefited the landowning class.[23] The country's middle class, resentful of its exclusion from the government, later spearheaded the democratic revolution that removed Ubico from power.[24]

Napoleon

Ubico considered himself to be "another Napoleon". He admired Napoleon Bonaparte extravagantly and preferred to have his photograph taken in his general's uniform. Although he was much taller and fatter than his hero, Ubico believed that he resembled Bonaparte, and his nickname was "the Little Napoleon of the Tropics".[25] He dressed ostentatiously and surrounded himself with statues and paintings of Napoleon, regularly commenting on the similarities between their appearances.

Praise

Ubico was commended by both his defenders and his detractors for his personal integrity and for virtually eliminating corruption in Guatemala;[10][26][27] anyone found guilty of corruption was "instantly"[10] and "severely"[28] punished. The so-called Probity Law mandated that all public officials publicly declare their assets before taking office and upon leaving it[10] – and the law was rigorously enforced.[26]

Repression and controversy

Police chief embezzlement accusation

On 18 September 1934, Efraín Aguilar Fuentes, Juventino Sánchez, Humberto Molina Santiago, Rafael Estrada Guilles, and Colonel Luis Ortiz Guzmán were tortured and executed inside the Guatemala National Penitenciary,[lower-alpha 1][29] accused of planning a plot to overthrow president Ubico.

In his book The paradox garden (Spanish: El Jardín de las Paradojas), written in 1935, Guatemalan writer Efraín De los Ríos accused the police chief, General Roderico Anzueto Valencia, of making up the plot to get rid of the accused conspirators. According to De los Ríos, this is what really happened:

In early September 1934, when Ubico announced a popular referendum to determine whether he should extend his presidential term for another six years, the lawyer Efraín Aguilar Fuentes, the Property Registry director, sternly declined to be in favor of the president. When Ubico summoned him to the presidential office to chastise him, Fuentes coldly replied he was aware Police Chief Anzueto Valencia had embezzled up to twenty eight properties and therefore he, Aguilar, was not going to support the president. But he did not know that Anzueto was only the front man and the real owner was Ubico himself.[30]

In the following weeks, Anzueto Valencia made up a list of people involved in a false plot to murder Ubico Castañeda, and among the people in the list he included Aguilar Fuentes. All the people on the list were imprisoned, tortured and forced to confess. Their "confessions" appeared in the semi-official newspaper El Liberal Progresista.

De los Ríos was incarcerated once the government learned about these strong accusations. He remained in the National Penitenciary for most of the rest of Ubico's presidency.[31]

Congress gift

In 1940, the Guatemalan Congress gave Ubico a gift of US$200,000. Nearly 90 people were jailed for criticizing the gift.[32]

Resignation and continuation

School teacher María Chinchilla Recinos in 1940.

Ubico's repressive policies and arrogant demeanor led to a widespread popular insurrection led by middle-class intellectuals, professionals, and junior army officers. School teacher María Chinchilla Recinos' death during a peaceful demonstration on 25 June 1944 sparked an outcry that led to Ubico's resignation on 1 July 1944, amidst a general strike and nationwide protests. Initially, he had planned to hand over power to the former director of police, General Roderico Anzueto, who he felt could control. But his advisors recognized that Anzueto's pro-Nazi sympathies had made him very unpopular, and that he would not be able to control the military. Instead, Ubico chose to select a triumvirate composed of Major General Buenaventura Piñeda, Major General Eduardo Villagrán Ariza, and General Federico Ponce Vaides.

The three generals promised to convene the national assembly to hold an election for a provisional president, but when congress met on 3 July, soldiers held everyone at gunpoint and forced them to vote for General Ponce, rather than the popular civilian candidate Ramón Calderón. Ponce, who had previously retired from military service due to alcoholism, took orders from Ubico and kept many of the officials who had worked in the Ubico administration. The repressive policies of the Ubico administration continued.[12][33][34]

Revolution and overthrow

Main article: Guatemalan Revolution

Opposition groups began organizing again, this time joined by many prominent political and military leaders who deemed the Ponce regime unconstitutional. Among the military officers in the opposition were Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán and Major Francisco Javier Arana. Ubico had fired Árbenz from his teaching post at the Escuela Politécnica (Politechnic School), and since then Árbenz had been in El Salvador organizing a band of revolutionary exiles. On 19 October 1944, a small group of soldiers and students led by Árbenz and Arana attacked the National Palace, in what later became known as the "October Revolution".[35] Ponce was defeated and driven into exile. Árbenz, Arana, and a lawyer named Jorge Toriello established a junta which held democratic elections before the end of the year,[36] and were won by a professor named Juan José Arévalo.[37]

Exile and death

Ubico went into exile to New Orleans in the US and died of lung cancer on 14 June 1946.[32]

Gallery

Palaces built during Ubico's presidency

National Palace

Post Office

Interior Ministry, originally National Police

Museum, originally the November Fair Hall

See also

•  Guatemala portal
•  History portal
•  Biography portal
• History of Guatemala
• Obelisco (Guatemala City)
• Guatemalan Revolution
• President of Guatemala
• German cruiser Emden

Notes and references

Notes

1. Molina Santiago had tried to form a political party in Quetzaltenango to support general Roderico Anzueto to compete against Ubico in the upcoming presidential elections.[29]

References

1. Streeter 2000, pp. 15–16.
2. Immerman 1983, pp. 48–50.
3. Shillington 2002, pp. 38–39.
4. Forster 2001, pp. 89–91.
5. Time 1930.
6. Time 1931. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFTime1931 (help)
7. Nuestro Diario 1931, p. 1.
8. Grieb, p. 42
9. Gunther, John. Inside Latin America (1941), p. 118
10. Gunther, p. 120
11. Nyrop, Richard F. (ed.), Guatemala: A Country Study (1983), p. 21
12. Streeter 2000, p. 11-12.
13. Immerman 1983, p. 32.
14. Grandin 2000, p. 195.
15. Benz 1996, p. 16-17.
16. Loveman & Davies 1997, p. 118-120.
17. Bucheli 2008, pp. 433–454.
18. Bucheli 2005, pp. 22–24.
19. Bucheli 2004, pp. 181–212. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBucheli2004 (help)
20. Bucheli 2006, pp. 342–383. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBucheli2006 (help)
21. Bucheli 1997, pp. 65-84.
22. Grieb, Kenneth J. Guatemalan Caudillo: The Regime of Jorge Ubico (1979), p. 282
23. Griev, p. 34
24. Grieb, p. 270-271
25. De los Ríos 1948, p. 98.
26. Grieb, p. 13
27. Nyrop, p. 21
28. United States Office of Inter-American Affairs, Guatemala: Volcanic But Peaceful (1943), p. 10
29. De los Ríos 1948, p. 375
30. De los Ríos 1948, p. 384.
31. De los Ríos 1948.
32. "El lado oscuro de Jorge Ubico". Crónica. 16 December 2018.
33. Immerman 1983, p. 40-41.
34. Jonas 1991, p. 22.
35. Immerman 1983.
36. Streeter 2000, p. 13.
37. Norton, Ben (18 November 2015). "This is why they hate us: The real American history neither Ted Cruz nor the New York Times will tell you". Salon. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.

Bibliography

• Benz, Stephen Connely (1996). Guatemalan Journey. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-70840-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Bucheli, Marcelo (2008). Multinational Corporations, Totalitarian Regimes, and Economic Nationalism: United Fruit Company in Central America, 1899-1975. Business History. 50. pp. 433–454. doi:10.1080/00076790802106315.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Bucheli, Marcelo (2005). "Banana War Maneuvers". Harvard Business Review. 83 (11): 22–24. Archived from the original on 11 December 2012.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Bucheli, Marcelo (Summer 2004). "Enforcing Business Contracts in South America: the United Fruit Company and the Colombian Banana Planters in the Twentieth-Century". Business History Review. The President and Fellows of Harvard College. 78 (2): 181–212. doi:10.2307/25096865. JSTOR 25096865.
• Bucheli, Marcelo (2006). "The United Fruit Company in Latin America: Business Strategies in a Changing Environment". In Jones, Geoffrey; Wadhwani, R. Daniel (eds.). Entrepreneurship and Global Capitalism. 2. Cheltenham, England: Edward Elgar. pp. 342–383. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Bucheli, Marcelo (1997). "United Fruit Company in Colombia: Impact of Labor Relations and Governmental Regulations on its Operations, 1948-1968". Essays in Economic and Business History. 15: 65–84.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Bucheli, Marcelo (2006). "United Fruit Company". In Geisst, Charles (ed.). Encyclopedia of American Business History. London, England: Facts on File. ISBN 978-0-8160-4350-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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• De los Ríos, Efraín (1948). Ombres contra Hombres (in Spanish) (3rd ed.). Mexico, D.F.: Fondo de cultura de la Universidad de México.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Díaz Romeu, Guillermo (1996). "Del régimen de Carlos Herrera a la elección de Jorge Ubico". Historia general de Guatemala. 1993-1999 (in Spanish). 5. Guatemala: Asociación de Amigos del País, Fundación para la Cultura y el Desarrollo. pp. 37–42. Archived from the original on 12 January 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Gleijeses, Piero (1992). Shattered hope: the Guatemalan revolution and the United States, 1944-1954. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-02556-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Grandin, Greg (2000). The blood of Guatemala: a history of race and nation. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-2495-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Forster, Cindy (2001). The Time of Freedom: Campesino Workers in Guatemala's October Revolution. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 9780822941620.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Fried, Jonathan L. (1983). Guatemala in rebellion: unfinished history. Grove Press. p. 52.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Friedman, Max Paul (2003). Nazis and good neighbors: the United States campaign against the Germans of Latin America in World War II. Cambridge University Press. pp. 82–83. ISBN 9780521822466.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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Further reading

• Arévalo Martinez, Rafael (1945). ¡Ecce Pericles! (in Spanish). Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional.
• Bucheli, Marcelo; Read, Ian (2006). "Banana Boats and Baby Food: The Banana in U.S. History". In Topik, Steven; Marichal, Carlos; Frank, Zephyr (eds.). From Silver to Cocaine: Latin American Commodity Chains and the Building of the World Economy, 1500-2000. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3766-9.
• Grieb, Kenneth J. (1979). Guatemalan Caudillo: The Regime of Jorge Ubico 1931–1944. Athens: Ohio University Press. ISBN 0-8214-0379-6. OCLC 4135828.
• LaFeber, Walter (1993). Inevitable revolutions: the United States in Central America. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 77–79. ISBN 9780393309645.
• Samayoa Chinchilla, Carlos (1950). El Dictador y yo (in Spanish). Guatemala City: Imprenta Iberia. OCLC 5585663.

Political offices
Preceded by José María Reina Andrade (acting)	President of Guatemala 1931–1944	Succeeded by Juan Federico Ponce Vaides