During the mid-1900’s, Guatemala was one of the richest countries in Central America (Trefzger, 2002). This wealth, however, was shared among only two percent of the country’s population (Trefzger, 2002). Guatemala, like the majority of Latin America, faced tremendous inequalities regarding landownership. Over two thirds of the country consisted of campesinos, or peasant farmers, and they were only allotted 14 percent of land (Trefzger, 2002). This had a devastating impact on campesino workers, who suffered poverty, malnutrition, poor health, and a lack of education. (Trefzger, 2002).

The ten years of spring, from 1944 to 1954, is known for its major progressive reforms in Guatemala implemented by two presidents: Juan Jose Arevalo and Jacobo Arbenz Guzman (Handy, 1994). During this time, campesino workers, who mostly consisted of indigenous populations, saw considerable improvements to their living conditions. New laws, such as the Agrarian Land Reform, sought to improve landownership inequalities that caused the poverty of campesino workers.

This paper analyzes the Agrarian Reform Law implemented under the administration of Jacobo Arbenz. More specifically, how involved were campesino workers during the land redistribution process seen during the ten years of spring? Arstein’s (1969) A ladder of Participation as well as Heller and Rao’s (2015) Deliberation and Development will be used as basis to categorize the citizen participation model followed by Arbenz’s presidency. These concepts will also serve to analyze the efficiency of the reform law’s campesino participation. Finally, the sociological imagination (Mills, 2000) and Castell’s (2010) Power of Identity will be used to look into the campesino consciousness, and the reasons behind why campesino workers began organizing in Guatemala.