The Berlin Crisis, the fall of China, and the Soviet acquisition of nuclear weapons in 1948 and 1949 had made leaders wary of Soviet encroachment in the Western Hemisphere. Analyzing Arevalo's term, Americans began to detect sins of Communism. Guatemala had long been a refuge for Communists in Latin America because of its openness. The number of homegrown Communists, however, appears to have been small, though some held high positions in the labor movement. Arevalo had been instructed to be on the lookout for Communist activity, a command he ignored. America didn't expect that kind of reaction from the Latin leader and took action accordingly.
During the Cold War, the United States found many countries as a threat to the changing government of Democracy. …
