# Caracas Conference (1954)

URL: https://allhistories.com/guatemala/timeline/1954-caracas-conference
Location: Caracas, Venezuela
Themes: main-event

By early 1954 the Árbenz government knew it was under threat. In January it published documents exposing a conspiracy involving Castillo Armas and foreign governments, and it sought to rally Latin American opinion behind the principle of non-intervention. At the Tenth Inter-American Conference of the Organization of American States, held in Caracas in March 1954, US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles presented a 'Declaration of Solidarity for the Preservation of the Political Integrity of the American States against International Communist Intervention'. It declared that domination of any American state by international communism would threaten the whole hemisphere. Guatemala's foreign minister Guillermo Toriello delivered a widely applauded speech defending his country's sovereignty and reforms, but the resolution passed by 17 votes to one, Guatemala voting against and Mexico and Argentina abstaining. The Caracas Declaration provided diplomatic cover for the coming intervention. In May 1954 the arrival at Puerto Barrios of the Swedish freighter Alfhem with Czechoslovak arms bought by Guatemala was presented by Washington as proof of Soviet penetration, and the United States airlifted weapons to Honduras and Nicaragua. Guatemala's isolation was complete. At this point in the timeline (March 1954), the President of Guatemala was Jacobo Árbenz (15 March 1951 – 27 June 1954).

## Why it matters
It gave the United States hemispheric backing for action against Árbenz.

Ruler at the Time: [Jacobo Árbenz](https://allhistories.com/guatemala/rulers/jacobo-arbenz)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d'%C3%A9tat)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Caracas Conference 1954](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Caracas+Conference+1954)
- [Wikipedia — Organization of American States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_American_States)
- [US Office of the Historian — FRUS, Guatemala](https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54Guat)
- [Wikipedia — The Ten Years Of Spring (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemalan_Revolution)