Carlos Castillo Armas

Before the coup of 1954, Castillo Armas was a retired military officer working in Honduras as a furniture salesman. He was chosen by the CIA to lead the National Liberation Movement (MLN) into Guatemala to overthrow the Arbenz regime. With the resignation and flight of Arbenz, Castillo Armas was flown into Guatemala on the personal plane of U.S. Ambassador John Peurifoy. He was installed as President and given some $80 million from Eisenhower over the next three years to boost his government. As president, he re-instituted the mechanisms of repression, including the MLN's Committee Against Communism, which compiled lists of thousands of union members and Arbenz supporters who were suspected subversives. In 1957 Castillo Armas was assassinated by military rivals.