 Ubico had made statements supporting the labor movement when campaigning for the presidency , but after his election his policy quickly became authoritarian . He abolished the system of debt peonage , and replaced it with a vagrancy law , which required all men of working age who did not own land to perform a minimum of 100 days of hard labor . In addition , the state made use of unpaid Indian labor to work on public infrastructure like roads and railroads . Ubico also froze wages at very low levels , and passed a law allowing land @-@ owners complete immunity from prosecution for any action they took to defend their property , an action described by historians as legalizing murder . He greatly strengthened the police force , turning it into one of the most efficient and ruthless in Latin America . The police were given greater authority to shoot and imprison people suspected of breaking the labor laws . The result of these laws was to create tremendous resentment against him among agricultural laborers . Ubico was highly contemptuous of the country 's indigenous people , once stating that they resembled donkeys . 
