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.
Russian Orthodox missions in Guatemala 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.
Communist influence 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. 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 retired soldiers left Russia to go to Guatemala and start a new life. == Russian influence in the art and culture of Guatemala ==