The Price of Progress: Guatemala and the United States During the Alliance for Progress

This dissertation is an examination of US-Guatemalan relations during the 1960's. At that time, the United States was promoting a major developmental program throughout Latin America: The Alliance for Progress. A "Marshall Plan for Latin America" the Alliance was meant to modernize the region by promoting democratic institutions, invigorating local economies, and expanding access to education and medical care. In Guatemala, however, anticommunist dogma prevailed over the lofty rhetoric of the Alliance for Progress. Instead of becoming the promised "showcase for democracy", Guatemala was transformed into a garrison-state engulfed in a long, violent civil war. This history will reconstruct these events and explain how even policies crafted with the best of intentions can end in tragedy