“STAY THE HELL OUT OF IT”: GENERAL ARANA OSORIO, KISSINGER AND A FORGOTTEN CENTRAL AMERICAN CRISIS (1966-1974)

Abstract

This article examines the emergence and consolidation at the national and
regional levels of Guatemalan general Carlos Arana Osorio. The article focuses
on four elements: its political emergence, its contribution in building alliances
with other Central American presidents, its support to them in times of crisis
under the silent eye of the Nixon/Kissinger duo, and its role in confronting
different domestic institutional areas to achieve the continuity of his political
project. It seeks to bring to light elements and temporalities usually overlooked
in Central American historiography. Specifically, it seeks to discuss the political
violence in Guatemala and the Central American nuances within the Latin
American Cold War. This in order to nuance the classical canon that emphasizes
violence and US interventionism as axis of politics in the country.