Sports, Control and Geopolitics: The State Strategy in Guatemala (1944-1954)

Abstract

The promotion of sport in Guatemala during the years from 1944 to 1954 was located in the center and west of the country, especially among workers in public agencies, in order to moderate and modernize their customs and raise their levels of health and labor performance. Despite this, the governments of Juan José Arévalo (1945-1951) and Jacobo Árbenz (1951-1954) did not modernize sports education in schools and colleges nor did they promote school sports festivals, which would have helped identify the Guatemalan - especially the indigenous world- with sports practices and improve their physical level. This is explained by the fact that the capital of coffee-growing activity was concentrated in these regions, which is why they had the best roads and paths, in addition, the best educational centers, state facilities and urban spaces for practicing sports. The sports policy of the Guatemalan State revolves around the payment of sports equipment for teams of state agency workers, the financing of sports teams, the payment of coaches, the delivery of sports trophies and decorations, the construction of sports infrastructure, mainly the National Stadium and the centralization of sporting activity. The objective of this article is to study in greater depth the position of the Guatemalan State in the promotion of sport during the revolutionary governments from 1944 to 1954. For this, the legislation issued in the Diario de Centroamérica during the years in question will be analyzed.