born Sept. 14, 1913, Quezaltenango, Guat.
died Jan. 27, 1971, Mexico City, Mex.
Soldier and president of Guatemala (1951–54).
The son of a Swiss emigré, Arbenz joined the leftist army officers who overthrew the dictator Jorge Ubico (1878–1946) in 1944. Elected president in 1951, he made land reform his central project. His efforts to expropriate idle land owned by the United Fruit Co. and his alleged communist links led to an invasion sponsored by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency . When the army refused to defend Arbenz against what appeared to be a superior force, he resigned and went into exile, and the CIA installed the leader of the proxy army, Col. Carlos Castillo Armas (1914–57), as president.