(John Foster Dulles - it had nothing to do with fruit . . .much)

When a coup overthrew the popularly-elected leftist government in Guatemala in June 1954, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles delivered an address to the American people extolling the virtues of our improving ties with Latin America, based on the recently adjourned Caracas Conference. It wasn't until much later that it was disclosed the overthrow was hatched, aided and executed by the CIA and that it had much to do with, of all things, fruit.

John Foster Dulles: “Throughout this period that I’ve outlined, the Guatemalan governments and the Communist agents throughout the world have persistently attempted to obscure the real issue; that of Communist Imperialism. By claiming that the United States is only interested in protecting American business. We regret that there had been disputes between the government of Guatemala and the United Fruit Company. We have urged repeatedly that these disputes should be submitted to settlement by an International tribunal or by international arbitration. That’s the way to dispose of problems of this sort.”

Despite claims to the contrary, it had very much to do with business since Dulles was a major shareholder in the United Fruit Company. But because we were knee deep in red-scare politics, any mention of the real intent to overthrow the government just didn't seem too necessary to mention at the time.

The left hand paying no attention to what the right hand was doing.