Editing History of Guatemala (section)

==== Presidency of Juan José Arévalo (1945–1951) ====
{{Main|Juan José Arévalo}}
Árbenz served as defense minister under President Arévalo, becoming the first to hold this position after it had previously been called the ''Ministry of War''. In 1947, Dr. Arévalo, along with a friend and two Russian dancers visiting Guatemala, was involved in a car accident on the road to Panajachel. Arévalo fell into a ravine and was seriously injured, while all his companions were killed. The official party leaders then signed a pact with Lieutenant Colonel Arana, in which he pledged not to attempt a coup against the ailing president in exchange for being recognized by the revolutionary parties as the official candidate in the next election. However, Arévalo's recovery was almost miraculous, and he was soon able to resume governing. Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Javier Arana had agreed to the pact because he wanted to be seen as a democratic hero of the uprising against Ponce, and he believed the ''Barranco Pact'' secured his position for the upcoming presidential elections.{{sfn|Sabino|2007|pp=42–52}}

Arana was a highly influential figure in Arévalo's government and had secured his nomination as the next presidential candidate, surpassing Captain Árbenz, who was told that due to his young age, he would have no difficulty waiting for his turn in the subsequent election.{{sfn|Sabino|2007|pp=42–52}} Arana died in a gun battle against a military civilian attempting to capture him on 18 July 1949, at the Bridge of Glory in [[Amatitlán]], where he and his assistant commander had gone to inspect weapons that had been seized at the Aurora Air Base a few days earlier. There are varying accounts of who ambushed him and who ordered the attack; both Arbenz and Arévalo have been accused of orchestrating an attempt to remove Arana from the presidential race.{{sfn|Sabino|2007|pp=42–52}}

The death of Lieutenant Colonel Arana is of critical importance in the history of Guatemala, as it marked a turning point in the Guatemalan revolution. His death not only cleared the path for Colonel Árbenz to be elected president in 1950 but also triggered a major crisis in the government of Dr. Arévalo Bermejo. Suddenly, Arévalo faced opposition from an army more loyal to Arana than to him, as well as from elite civilian groups who seized the opportunity to protest vigorously against his administration.{{sfn|Sabino|2007|pp=42–52}}

Before his death, Arana had planned to run in the upcoming 1950 presidential elections. His death left Árbenz without any significant rivals, which led some, including the CIA and U.S. military intelligence, to speculate that Árbenz had him eliminated for this reason. Árbenz received more than three times as many votes as the runner-up, [[Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes]]. Fuentes claimed that electoral fraud had benefited Árbenz; however, scholars have noted that while fraud may have given Árbenz some votes, it was not the reason for his victory.{{sfn|Streeter|2000|p=16}} In 1950s Guatemala, only literate men could vote by secret ballot; illiterate men and literate women voted by open ballot, while illiterate women were not enfranchised at all.{{sfn|Gleijeses|1992|p=84}}

For the 1950 campaign, Árbenz asked [[José Manuel Fortuny]], a high-ranking member of the Guatemalan Communist Party, to write some of his speeches. The central theme of these speeches was land reform, Árbenz's "pet project." Árbenz won a comfortable victory in the late 1950 elections, after which he and Fortuny collaborated closely on government tasks. While many leaders of the ruling coalition sought personal benefits from their proximity to the president, the leaders of the Guatemalan Labor Party, especially Fortuny, were among Árbenz's closest advisers.

The election of Árbenz alarmed U.S. State Department officials, who remarked that Arana had always represented the "only positive conservative element" in the Arévalo administration, that his death would "materially strengthen the Left," and that "developments forecast a sharp leftist trend within the government."{{sfn|Gleijeses|1992|p=124}}