Russian Guatemalan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Guatemala City, Zacapa and Antigua Guatemala | |
| Languages | |
| Spanish, Russian | |
| Religion | |
| Russian Orthodox Christianity, other Christian, Islam[citation needed] and Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Russian people, Demographics of Guatemala |
Russian Guatemalans are Guatemalan citizens who have full or partial Russian ancestry.
Russian Orthodox missions in Guatemala
The first Russian immigrants arrived in Guatemala in the late 1890s. Some Russians had already settled in Mexico. However, some immigrants preferred to go to Guatemala or Nicaragua because Porfirio Diaz was the president of Mexico. Also, some immigrants were socialist politicians who had good relations with Manuel Estrada Cabrera, who became President of Guatemala in 1898. The Russian immigration at this time, though, was insignificant. Many refugees of Russian, Greek, and Polish origin came after the First World War.[1]
In the late nineteenth century, some Orthodox Christian immigrants from the Levant came to Guatemala. In the early twentieth century, a wave of German immigrants and a smaller but still present wave of Russians and Greek, arrived in Guatemala. These Orthodox Christians settled with their families in Guatemala and preserved their Orthodox faith and traditions.[2]
Communist influence
.svg)
During the government of Jacobo Arbenz, there was communist influence in Guatemala. This was carried out in part through the arrival of Soviet agents who came to Guatemala to create a communist core, a phenomenon that also occurred in other Latin American countries. The arrival of Communists revolutionaries like Ernesto Guevara also increased the influence of communists in Guatemala at this time. Communism was attractive for some Guatemalan politicians who had relations with Russia. Communism's greatest influence, though, was to poor people because communism was intended to eliminate private property and take away land from the United Fruit Company[relevant?].[3]
The CIA twice attempted to overthrow Jacobo Arbenz from power. The first attempt was a failure, but the second attempt successfully placed Carlos Castillo Armas in charge. Armas returned the land to the Guatemalan landholdings and the United Fruit Company. Through the overthrow of Arbenz, the relations between Russia and Guatemala were almost dissolved, although the relations would see a resurgence during the Cold War. In the 1990s, many[quantify] retired soldiers left Russia to go to Guatemala and start a new life.[4]