What caused guerrilla resistance to grow in Guatemala after 1954?

After the 1954 U.S.-backed overthrow of President Jacobo Árbenz, the military-led government under Carlos Castillo Armas reversed previous social and economic reforms, including agrarian reform, and suppressed labor and peasant unions with significant violence.123

The growth of guerrilla resistance was fueled by several key factors:

• Thwarted Reforms: The systematic dismantling of the social reforms promised during the 1944 revolution left many segments of the population restive and increasingly receptive to insurgency.23
• External Inspiration: The success of Fidel Castro in Cuba in 1959 served as a powerful inspiration for Guatemalan rebels.23
• State Violence and Exclusion: Successive military regimes utilized repression, death squads, and electoral manipulation to maintain control, which alienated the population.23
• Displacement and Land Issues: Government violence, particularly in northern regions following the discovery of oil, forced many Indigenous people from their lands. This displacement drove them in unprecedented numbers into the ranks of the guerrilla movements.23