Carlos Enrique DÃÂaz de León was the provisional President of Guatemala from 27 June to 29 June 1954. He was replaced by a military junta led by Elfego Monzón. Carlos Enrique DÃÂaz was previously Chief of the Guatemalan Armed Forces under President Jacobo ÃÂrbenz.
DÃÂaz had befriended ÃÂrbenz while they were both at the military academy. DÃÂaz served in the Guatemalan army and eventually attained the rank of Colonel. ÃÂrbenz and DÃÂaz remained friends after ÃÂrbenz became president in 1951, and served as his chief of armed forces. In 1954, the CIA intensified operations against the ÃÂrbenz government. During this phase, an attempt was made to bribe DÃÂaz: he was offered 200,000 US dollars to act against ÃÂrbenz. He refused, possibly because the offer was made when he was visiting Caracas with his mistress.
On 18 June 1954, Carlos Castillo Armas led an invasion of Guatemala with a small force of Guatemalan exiles, as part of the US Central Intelligence Agency's "Operation PBSUCESS" to overthrow ÃÂrbenz. The invasion was accompanied by an intense campaign of psychological warfare presenting Castillo Armas' victory as a fait accompli, with the intent of forcing ÃÂrbenz to resign. ÃÂrbenz' initial intention was to repel an invasion force led by Carlos Castillo Armas by arming the military-age populace, the workers' militia, and the Guatemalan Army. However, DÃÂaz, as chief of the Guatemalan armed forces, informed ÃÂrbenz that arming the civilians would be unpopular within the army, and that "the army [would] do its duty."
Due to this advice, ÃÂrbenz instead asked DÃÂaz to select officers to lead a counter-attack. DÃÂaz selected a corps of officers known to be men of personal integrity and who were loyal to the president. ÃÂrbenz also tried to use diplomatic methods to put an end to the invasion. Outside Zacapa, a small garrison of 30 Guatemalan soldiers defeated a rebel force of 180, making ÃÂrbenz believe that a military victory was possible. In reality, however, the threat of a US intervention and the psychological warfare employed by the CIA had left the army demoralized, and unwilling to fight. ÃÂrbenz was informed of the unwillingness of the army to fight by various means, and on 25 June decided to arm the civilian population of the capital. DÃÂaz agreed to cooperate, along with several union leaders, but no volunteers appeared to take up arms. Seeing this, DÃÂaz backed out of his agreement and began to confer with other military leaders, including Elfego Monzón and Jose Angel Sanchez, about seizing power. On 26 June, DÃÂaz told ÃÂrbenz that he had tried to distribute weapons, but that he did not have the cooperation of troop leaders. The plotters spoke to US ambassador John Peurifoy, who agreed to contact Castillo Armas to arrange a cessation of hostilities: DÃÂaz and his allies were unwilling to deal with Castillo Armas themselves. Peurifoy learned from them that they were planning on seizing power on 27 June.
On 27 June 1954, Jacobo ÃÂrbenz met with DÃÂaz, and informed him that he was resigning. Historians have variously suggested either that, at the urging of Peurifoy, DÃÂaz actually persuaded ÃÂrbenz to resign, or that DÃÂaz delivered ÃÂrbenz an ultimatum from senior army officers, demanding that he resign. Historian Jim Handy has stated that ÃÂrbenz made DÃÂaz promise to protect the reforms of the Guatemalan Revolution; nonetheless, his resignation represented the end of the revolution for practical purposes. ÃÂrbenz left office at 8 PM, after recording a resignation speech that was broadcast on the radio an hour later. Immediately afterwards, DÃÂaz made an announcement that he would be taking over the presidency in the name of the Guatemalan Revolution, and stated that the Guatemalan army would still fight against Castillo Armas' invasion. Nonetheless, DÃÂaz also ordered operations against known communists even before he formally took power. The military junta, which took over consisted of Carlos Enrique DÃÂaz, Colonel H. Elfego Monzón, and Colonel Jose Angel Sánchez.
US ambassador John Peurifoy had encouraged DÃÂaz to accept ÃÂrbenz' resignation, and had promised to contact Castillo Armas to arrange a ceasefire once ÃÂrbenz had resigned. However, he had not expected DÃÂaz, who still supported the Guatemalan Revolution, to form a military junta and keep fighting. This action had made him a target of Allen Dulles, director of the CIA, and John Foster Dulles, the US secretary of state, who decided that they needed a "better" army officer as president.
A few hours later, Peurifoy, who had played a role in the organization of the coup, informed DÃÂaz that he would have to resign; according to the CIA officer who spoke to DÃÂaz, this was because he was "not convenient for American foreign policy." Witnesses later stated that DÃÂaz' removal took place at 4 AM in DÃÂaz' home. According to eyewitnesses, Peurifoy wore a shoulder-holster to the meeting, as was his wont at the time. Peurifoy harshly criticized DÃÂaz for letting ÃÂrbenz criticize the United States in his resignation speech. At the same time, a U.S.-trained pilot bombed the Guatemalan army's main powder magazine to try to intimidate DÃÂaz. DÃÂaz said much later that Peurifoy had given him a list of names, claiming that the people on it were all communists, and demanded that all of them be shot by the next day. DÃÂaz said that he had refused and that this had further antagonized Peurifoy. After being berated at the meeting, he told Peurifoy that he would resign, and that he and Sanchez would withdraw from the junta. Monzón then entered and announced that he was forming the new junta. The other members of Monzón's junta were José Luis Cruz Salazar and Mauricio Dubois. Life magazine described Monzón as having "a more impressive anti-Communist record" than DÃÂaz.