economy and offset the flight of foreign capital. According to a report by the U.S. Embassy in 1954, "A preliminary analysis of the President's report left little doubt, as long as coffee prices are at their present high level, that the Guatemalan economy was basically prosperous." Decree 900 led to the expropriation of of Árbenz's own land and belonging to foreign minister Guillermo Toriello. Minister of Agriculture Nicolás Brol also had some of his land redistributed. Conflicts over implementation Various sources (including Árbenz and the government) reported conflicts over implementing the law. Decree 900 triggered domestic opposition from landowners and some elements within the military. The reforms were also opposed by the Catholic Church and the business class. Landowners complained of unfair practices, but so did others who felt excluded or as though they were getting a bad deal. Some peasants seized land without going through the legal channels, believing that the law provided them with a mandate. Sometimes the expropriators fought each other over who would get a certain piece of land. Other violent incidents among peasants were self-defense or retaliation against landowners who sought to disobey the law or intimidate them. In some places, peasants organized groups for self-defense and requested (usually without success) arms permits from the government. According to Neale Pearson, there were instances where "peasants illegally occupied lands and a few in which they burned pastures or crops in order to have land declared uncultivated and subject to expropriation. But these cases were isolated and limited to number". Sometimes legal councils had difficulty measuring land, or determining how much land on an estate was really unused. Union representatives began to travel through the countryside, informing people of the new law. Landowners closed private roads going through their property in order to prevent peasants from becoming informed of the changes. The government announced that all road would become public. Some local police forces (and other government officials) initially sanctioned some landowner retaliation. These groups, too, responded to government pressure to implement the reforms. Changes in political power By 1954, more than 3000 CALs had been formed. These organizations, which controlled the distribution of land at a local level, represented a substantial increase in political power for ordinary people and people's organizations such as unions. However, the law also increased the power of the President and of the new national council, the DAN. In 1953, the Supreme