We have two brilliant new interns who are furiously working through our backlog of interviews, transcribing, fact checking, looking up historical context. As we get up to date, we will provide deeper backgrounders, and, of course, you’ll get to meet them though their bylines and bios. This interview was transcribed by Kayley Ingalls. Kayley received […]
Allende, Arbenz, Brian Gruber, CIA, Guatemala, Kayley Ingalls, Reagan, War: The AfterpartyI visited leading Guatemalan policy institute ASIES and talked to analyst and scholar Hugo Novales Contreras. We talked about the culpability of the United States, whether democratically elected Jacobo Arbenz would have been overthrown without the CIA-sponsored invasion of 1954, and why modern military leaders and landowners pursue their grievances through democratic means (including the […]
Arbenz, Arevalo, Brian Gruber, Claudia Paz y Paz, Guatemala, Hugo Novales, Reagan, Rios Montt, War: The AfterpartyJorge Serrano is a former president of Guatemala, a businessman, an evangelical Christian. And in our meeting in Panama, it struck me that even conservatives and capitalists spoke with some touch of respect for Fidel Castro. I asked him why. Where do you meet with Fidel? “On two occasions. Once in Mexico, in Guadalajara, and […]
Brian Gruber, Fidel, Fidel Castro, Guatemala, Jorge Serrano, president, Serrano, War, War: The Afterparty
I am the son of a New York City cab driver and a Californian with a convertible. So, buses are not my thing. My last regular experience with buses was as a teenager. In our Brooklyn neighborhood, you needed a bus to get to the #3 IRT subway. When we moved to Long Island, I […]
Brian Gruber, Bus, chicken bus, Guatemala, Kevin, War, War: The AfterpartyI meet Jorge Fuentes, Guatemalan congressman, Central American Parliament member, preacher and businessman at the home of Carmen Aida de Fernandez. I had been to the home earlier in the week, where I was invited for Sunday lunch, after I watched her sons and daughter run in the Guatemala City marathon. Fuentes is dressed in […]
Carmen Aida de Fernandez, Castro, Centroamericano Parlamento, Che, Communism, Dommunist, Guatemala, Jorge Fuentes, War: The AfterpartyCelebrating 35 Years Of Revolution In The Rain With Daniel Ortega And A Thousand Police Follow my trip around the world to the scenes of sixty years of American invasions, overthrows and interventions. I’m in Nicaragua this week, after a kickoff in Guatemala, interviewing locals on their experience on the other end of the gun […]
Arbenz, Brian Gruber, Daniel Ortega, Guatemala, Managua, Nicaragua, Sandinistas, Somoza, War, wartheafterparty
A reminder to join fhe Afterparty Kickstarter campaign to fund the Europe, Middle East and Asian legs of the project. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wartheafterparty/war-the-afterparty I visited the storied campus of the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala and spoke with prominent professor and historian Dr. Oscar Pelaez Almengor. The campus, the fourth founded in the Americas, was […]
Almengor, Arbenz, Guatemala, San Carlos, War, War: The Afterparty
Part Two of my conversation with Guatemalan political veteran Julio Gonzalez. Part One can be read here. And find out the latest on the Afterparty project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wartheafterparty/war-the-afterparty “Why do you think, as a seasoned political veteran, that the United States needed to maintain the justification that the action was needed to defend the freedom […]
Brian Gruber, Guatemala, Julio Gonzalez, War The Afterparty
Julio Gonzalez Gamarra, Vice President and Deputy of the Parlamento Centroamericano, head of the monetary and finance committee, former president of the Parliament, settles into his seat at the head of the conference table. Carmen Aida, daughter of Cesar, will translate for us. “Why do you think Arbenz was overthrown?” Julio is dressed formally, in […]
Arbenz, Brian Gruber, Carmen Aida, Communism, Guatemala, Julio Gonzalez, United Fruit, War The Afterparty
Week One in Guatemala. A big success on a few fronts. Extraordinary encounters with prominent and everyday witnesses to the overthrow and civil war. Getting the recording tools and publishing process down. Making the travel process more efficient. Traveling by bus across Guatemala to Livingston today, a 5-6 hour trip. I’ll be reviewing and transcribing […]
Almengor, Arbenz, Arevalo, Gamarra, Guatemala, Novales, War The Afterparty