Guatemala declares war on Germany

On 23 April 1918, in the Palace of the Executive Power in the capital of Guatemala, President Manuel Estrada Cabrera signed the formula “Publíquese y cúmplase” (“Let it be published and carried out”) under Decree No. 976 of the Legislative Assembly. Its first article read: “In the present international conflict Guatemala adopts towards the German Empire the same belligerent attitude as the United States”. The word “war” did not appear in it, but everyone understood what it meant. A year after breaking off relations with Germany Guatemala became a belligerent, the first of the five republics that had once formed the Central American federation.

Three dates for one decision

The dates of this step differ in the sources, because the decision went through several stages. According to the text published in the official gazette, the Assembly passed the decree on 20 April. The Guatemalan minister in Washington, Joaquín Méndez, informed the State Department in a note dated 21 April, in which he quoted the president’s telegram about the decree “of today’s date”. On 23 April the decree was signed by the president and countersigned by the foreign minister Luis Toledo Herrarte. The government published it in the official gazette El Guatemalteco on Saturday 27 April, the first anniversary of the break with Berlin. Most lists give the date as 23 April; some studies give 21 or 27 April.

The decree was short. The Assembly, presided over by Arturo Ubico, recalled that on 27 April of the previous year Guatemala had broken off relations with the government of Imperial Germany, and found that, after careful consideration of what had happened since, the time had come to define its position in the conflict of nations. The reasons given were “continental solidarity”, the country’s geographical position and its historical and international ties with the United States, which “set it a standard of conduct”. The second article authorised the president to act as circumstances required. The decree concerned only Germany. It did not mention Austria-Hungary, with which the United States had been at war since December 1917.

At the side of the United States

Méndez wrote in his note that the government of Guatemala, expressing the will of the nation, was taking its place at the side of the United States in defence of the rights of America and of humanity, which German autocracy, seeking to replace liberty and civilisation with military despotism, was threatening ever more brutally. He gave assurances that Guatemala, like the United States, would remain at war until a lasting peace based on law and justice was concluded. On 27 April Secretary of State Robert Lansing replied that his government had received the news “with profound satisfaction”. He recalled that Guatemala had been “among the first” to side with the Americans, and added: “Side by side the two countries will wage this war not only against the enemy on the battlefield but also against his secret machinations in our midst”.

These last words were not accidental. Estrada Cabrera, who had ruled Guatemala as a dictator since 1898, based his power on good relations with Washington and American capital, especially the United Fruit Company. Guatemala bordered on Mexico, to which Berlin had proposed an alliance against the United States in the Zimmermann telegram, and an influential German colony lived in the country. For decades Germans had been establishing coffee plantations, especially in the department of Alta Verapaz; they controlled a large part of its exports and owned important businesses. Washington pressed the government to curb their influence. At the same time the war and the British blockade cut Guatemalan coffee off from the German market, and the United States was becoming an increasingly important buyer.

The decision was taken at a difficult moment. Since November 1917 Guatemala had been struck by a series of earthquakes, and the strongest shocks, on 25 and 29 December and on 3 and 24 January, ruined the capital and Antigua. The official gazette did not appear from 22 December to 21 January and afterwards came out in a reduced form. The semi-official Diario de Centro América, which for over two months published two issues a day with news of the destruction, began to criticise the slow and inept reconstruction. According to some historians it was then that support for the dictator began to crumble.

The first in Central America

In Latin America Guatemala was not the first. As early as April 1917, immediately after the United States, Cuba and Panama declared war on Germany, and in October Brazil did so. Of the five Central American republics, four broke off relations with Berlin in 1917, but none went further. Guatemala was the first to take that step. It was soon followed by Nicaragua on 8 May, Costa Rica on 23 May and Honduras in July. Only El Salvador remained neutral.

Guatemala sent no soldiers to the front and had no navy. Its war consisted of supporting the Americans and dealing with German interests in its own country. The government placed German enterprises under state administration, including the capital’s electricity company, the Verapaz railway and the electricity and telephone company in Quetzaltenango. According to some historians, however, Estrada Cabrera did this reluctantly and did little, and most German coffee planters kept their estates, which was received with irritation in Washington.

Taking part in the war earned Guatemala a place among the victors. It signed the Treaty of Versailles and in January 1920 was among the founding members of the League of Nations. The alliance with America did not, however, secure lasting support for Estrada Cabrera himself. In April 1920 the Assembly declared him unfit to hold office, and after several days of fighting in the streets of the capital the dictator had to surrender.