Resignation Speech, (27 June 1954) Guatemala City, Guatemala

“Resignation Speech,” delivered June 27, 1954, Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán (1913–1971)

Árbenz, Jacobo. “Resignation Speech.” Translated from Spanish into English by Samantha Linares and Isadora Quintana. Recovering Democracy Archives, 2026. (=A)

Árbenz, Jacobo. “Discurso de renuncia de Jacobo Árbenz, 27 de junio de 1954.” Transcribed by Julio David Menchú. HistoriaGT, https://www.historiagt.org/transcripciones/item/107-discursoarbenz. (=B)

Árbenz, Jacobo. “Discurso de renuncia de Jacobo Árbenz, 27 de junio de 1954 (Audio Mejorado).” Uploaded by Guatefornication. YouTube, August 6, 2023. (=C)

Árbenz, Jacobo. “Resignation Speech.” Central Intelligence Agency Electronic Reading Room, Document No. DOC_0000920952, June 27, 1954. (=D)

Three sources were consulted in authenticating the speech transcript of Árbenz’s “Resignation Speech” in English that Samantha Linares and Isadora Quintana translated from Spanish into English (=A): Spanish transcript authenticated by Professor Julio David Menchú (=B); YouTube audio recording in Spanish (=C); and the Central Intelligence Agency’s contemporaneous transcript in English (=D).

Copy-text (=A) was selected as the speech text for this unit because it represents the English translation of Professor Menchú’s authenticated Spanish transcription (=B). Professor Menchú, a history professor at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala and a specialist in Guatemalan historical speeches, authenticated the Spanish transcript based on archival research, Spanish audio recordings of the speech, and Spanish transcriptions of the speech broadcast. Professor Menchú granted permission to publish his authenticated text under Creative Commons licensing for non-profit, educational use.

To create copy-text (=A), Samantha Linares initially translated the YouTube audio recording (=C) of Árbenz’s speech from Spanish into English, and Isadora Quintana, a trained translator in English< >Spanish, reviewed and edited the English translation based on copy-text (=C). Samantha Linares then received a Spanish transcript of the speech from Professor Menchú. Samantha Linares compared the English translation (=A) to the Spanish transcript completed by Professor Menchú (=B). Samantha Linares treated Professor Menchú’s Spanish speech text as the most authentic transcript of the speech in Spanish, given his comparison to audio and written manuscripts of Árbenz’s “Resignation Speech.” In comparing Professor Menchú’s Spanish transcript (=B) to the English translation (=A), Samantha Linares edited the English version (=A) to align with (=B). Copy-text (=A) features the organizational structure and phrasing of Professor Menchú’s Spanish transcript of Árbenz’s address (=B).

Source (=D) represents an abridged English summary prepared and circulated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency shortly after the 1954 resignation. While copy-text (=D) reflects portions of the speech transcribed by Professor Menchú and translated by Samantha Linares and Isadora Quintana, it condenses or omits several key passages from Árbenz’s address, particularly his criticisms of North American monopolies and foreign military interventions.

Paragraph structure in copy-text (=A) mirrors the layout and formatting of Professor Menchú’s Spanish manuscript (=B). Paragraph numbers were added in brackets. Standard English spelling, punctuation, and capitalization have been applied to copy-text (=A) for readability without altering the historical meaning or intent of the address.

The speech text has been thoroughly checked and proofread for accuracy.