Being that my last name is Giron I could safely assume that my paternal family bloodline comes from Castile, a Christian Kingdom of medieval Spain.  Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: Early migrants to the New World which include Francisco Giron who sailed to Guatemala in 1538 others to various parts of America.  Since I was born in Guatemala City, I assume that my bloodline does draw from 'Don Paco'. 

 

Tracing back as recently as my Father and his twin brother, I've found that both worked, in one way or another, for the Guatemalan Government in the 1950's.  My Father, Noe Giron, became a personal assistant to Colonel Felipe Antonio Giron-Cordon, after signing up for the Guatemalan Army at the age of 17. Col Giron-Cordon recruited my father as an assistant out of a platoon of soldiers.  Col. Giron-Cordon went down a line of soldiers asking their name and where they came from.  When he got to my father, he commanded him to state his name and origin, my father answered, I am Noe Giron-Cordon and I am from El Progresso.    Coincidentally, the Col. was impressed that they both shared the same paternal and maternal last name and were from the same region.  Thus began Noe Giron's status from being a Private to working in the Colonel's house and in the Presidential Palace in 1948.  Four years later in 1952 Noe Giron-Cordon relinquished his position to his twin bother Josue Giron-Cordon by way of his recommendation and moved on to work for the "Servicio Secreto" as officer assigned to assist in driving the Secret Service agents of Guatemala and the President.

 

During this time, both Noe and Josue worked under the campaign of Presidents Juan Jose Aevalo Bermejo preceded by Jacobo Arbenz Guzman both from the Revolutionary Party from 1945 to 1954.   During this same time trouble was brewing in he U.S. Congress with a "lynch mob" that was being organized by Republican Senator, Joseph Raymond McCarthy of Wisconsin.  McCarthy assured that there were communists within the Senate and State Department and was supported by many within the U.S. Government. Therefore, he began his campaign to wipe out all so called communists in and around the United States.  This gave way to opposition in the Guatemalan Government against the President, Jacobo Arbenz.  Opposers of Arbenz convened with the U.S. Military and the Central Inteligence Agency (CIA) to overthrow Arbenz and his Revolutionary Party with the premise that his plans for agricultural reform in Guatemala were communist ideas, ideal in a time of communist fears.

Arbenz's government initiated a number of new policies, such as seizing and expropriating unused, unfarmed land that private corporations set aside long ago and giving the land to peasants, all in the best interest for Guatemalans. The U.S. intelligence community deemed that Communist in nature and, suspected influence, that fueled a fear of Guatemala becoming a Communist ally.  Allen W. Dulles, director of the CIA, voiced concern that reverberated within the CIA and the Eisenhower Administration, in the context of the anti-Communist fears of the McCarthyisim era. Arbenz instigated sweeping land reform acts that antagonized the U.S.-based multinational company United Fruit Company, which had large stakes in the old order of Guatemala and lobbied various levels of U.S. to take action against Arbenz.  Both Allen W. Dulles and his brother were shareholders of United Fruit Company which currently evolved into being Chiquita Banana.  

The operation, which lasted from late 1953 to 1954, planned to arm and train a so called "Liberation Army" of about 400 fighters under the command of a then-exiled Guatemalan army officer, Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas.   It was said that bombs were dropped by U.S. manned Mustang P-51 warplanes, in a park called "Campo Marte" in the Capital City of Guatemala to generate fear and intiimidation.  Bombs were also dropped on the border of Honduras and Guatemala in an attempt to boycott relations between the two countries, which at the time was the only country that was an ally to Guatemala.  With this campaign Arbenz was forced to step down and was forced to leave Guatemala in June of 1954.  Some say that he (Arbenz) was stripped of everything, literally down to his underwear at the Aurora Airport in Guatemala.  He fled to Mexico and passed away a few years later. 

There are records that show that Che' Guevarra was in Guatemala at the time to witness the underlying imperialistic takeover which led him to join Fidel Castro and play a role in the revolution in Cuba in 1959 which led to Fidel Castro's Cuban Missle Crisis during the John F. Kennedy Administration.

 After the successful coup, all employees and staff of the Presidential Palace were investigated and interrogated for communist activity including, my father and uncle, Noe and Josue, both were cleared.  With so much turmoil in Guatemala, my uncle, Josue Giron was granted a transfer to work for the Embassy of Guatemala in Washington D.C. in October 1954, with newly elected Ambassador Enrique Trinidad Oliva who was part of the interim "Junta".  My father continued to work as a driver for the secret service for the next five Heads of State and Presidents in Guatemala, including Jose Miguel Ydigoras-Fuentes.  In 1963 Noe Giron migrated to the United States and was granted residency by way of brother Josue Giron and government connections.  

Noe Giron sought work and obtained work in several restaurants and most notably at the Jefferson Hotel, 1200 16th Street NW, Washington DC, for over 20 years in the Food and Beverage Department.  Josue Giron left the Guatemalan Embassy and worked for the Metropolitan Club at 1700 H Street NW Washington D.C. and served there for over 40 years.  In June of 1964 my father arranged for my mother, Cecilia and I to migrate with him, I was at the tender age of one.  Thus begins a tempestuous start in America.......(Washington DC 1968 Riots)

 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102729.Bitter_Fruit_The_Story_of_the_American_Coup_in_Guatemala_Revised_and_Expanded

 http://users.polisci.wisc.edu/LA260/bananas.htm