The Political Economy of Guatemalan Industrialization, 1871-1948
The Career of Carlos P. Novella
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7789795 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul J Dosal (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1988 |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 321 |
| Publication date | 1988-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Hispanic American Historical Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2168 • E-ISSN: 1527-1900 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2515517 |
| OpenAlex | W4237269802 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
IN the midst of a horribly violent crisis, Central American businessmen and women are naturally reluctant to divulge sensitive information to inquisitive foreigners. Federico (Fred) Melville Novella, however, seemed quite willing to discuss the history of his family's cement company, provided the interview did not delay the disbursement of the payroll checks which he was then signing. Equally eager to probe the history of one of Central America's largest industrial concerns, I led off with a question about government relations. Carlos Federico Novella Klee, Fred's maternal grandfather, founded Latin America's first cement industry in 1897 and developed a profitable enterprise due partly to government contracts and fiscal exemptions. Thus expecting Fred to praise government policies, I asked Fred to characterize his company's relations with the Guatemalan government. Horrible, just horrible, Fred shot back.' Fred should have answered fine and praised the government. His company had received crucial tax exemptions and government contracts, measures which, when combined with a 1931 strike-breaking police intervention and access to foreign capital, accounted for the company's success. The Guatemalan government had permitted, indeed encouraged, the accumulation of industrial capital in the hands of the Novella family. Yet here Fred was, signing paychecks and distributing wealth, revealing in a series of anecdotes the difficulties the family had encountered with indifferent dictators, dogmatic revolutionaries, and hostile military strongmen. To him, the government was not a benefactor but an obstacle. Obviously, this member of Guatemala's industrial bourgeoisie was not entirely satisfied with his government's industrial development policy. Wisely avoiding politically sensitive issues, Fred and his uncle Enrique Novella Camacho still managed to raise vitally important questions about
Art · Economic history · Economics · Industrialisation · Literature · Novella · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Economic Theory and Policy · Economic Zones and Regional Development · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Regional Development and Innovation
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,18 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2018 (10) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |