COMMUNIST PENETRATION OF GUATEMALA AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA

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• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP62-00865R000300200001-8
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• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 17, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: February 18, 1954
• Content Type: IR

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Intelligence Report
No. 6537
COMMUNIST PENETRATION OF GUATEMALA AND
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
fOQUME.11? N9.
90 CHANGE W CUSS,
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of Intelligence Research
o DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CRANUED Tri
AUTH tiff 73.2
DATEi V1EWERI_ 056364
Date : February 18, 195/x.
,State Dept. declassification instructions on file
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This repot was prepared from information available through
February 15, 1954 by the Division-of Research for the American Republics.
TABLE CF CONTENTS
I. Communist Penetration of Czechoslovakia and Guatemala:
Comparison and Contrast . .
II. Communist Penetration of Guatemala . . . . . . . . . . .
Page
III. Communist Penetration of Czechoslovakia . . . . . . . . . 6
A. Chronology of Communist Penetration of Guatemala . . . .
This report is distributed by IAD/IDR, telephone extension 4148
or 4149. When it has outlived its.usefulness please return it to
IAD/IDR, Room 101, Sk-1.
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I. Communist Penetration of Czechoslovakia and Guatemala:
Comte and Contrast
Communist seizure of Czechoslovakia in February 1948-was preceded
by a steady penetration of the most important spheres of national life.
The following similarities with Guatemala may be noted: (1) Communists
dominated the trade unions, press and public information. activities,
intellectual groups, and mass organizations; (2). Communists controlled
the Ministry of Agriculture, which enabled them to use land distribution
for political purposes and to exert a strong influence on the rural
population; (3) Communists concealed their real aims behind a smoke-
screen of nationalism and revolutionary social reform; (4) No important
leader, political party or any large segment of the population was willing
to oppose the Communists vigorously and directly.
In contrast to Guatemala where Communist penetration has been
gradual, the Czechoslovak Communists achieved a dominant position from
the very beginning of Czechoslovakia's liberation in 1945. The fact
that four-fifths of the country had been liberated by the Soviet Army
and that Czechoslovakia was almost completely surrounded by territory
under Soviet occupation forced the London exile government of President
Benes to agree to a disproportionate role for the Communists in the new
Czechoslovakian government. The first ,Czechoslovak government established
in April 1945 had 40 percent of its Cabinet posts occupied by Communists
or crypto-Communists. The Provisional National Assembly was also heavily
laden with Communists and obedient fellow travelers. In addition, the
Commuf~ists' secured control of the police and local government and gained
enough influence over.the army to render-it ineffective as an anti-Com-
munist instrument even if President Benes had decided to call upon it to
resist Communist pressure in February 1948.
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II. Communist Penetration of Guatemala
(1944 - 1954)
For the past ten years Guatemala has been subjected to
Communist penetration. Since 1951, the year in which President Arbenz
came to power, this penetration has proceeded at an accelerated rate.
By militant action in support of the social and nationalist objectives
of the Guatemalan Revolution of 19144, the Communists and their sympa-
thizers have attained extensive and increasing influence within the
government. The success of the Guatemalan Communists has been achieved
through the personal influence of individual Communists and pro-Com-
munists Stith the President and within the Administration political parties,
through infiltration of the bureaucracy, through penetration and control
of labor organizations, and through leadership of the agrarian reform
movement. It has been reinforced by propaganda and front activities.
Government officials and other political lenders have been ex-
tremely tolerant of the Communists and willing to work with them. Under
President Arbenz toleration has changed to open and official collabora-
tion with the Guatemalan Communist Party which, since December 1952, has
enjoyed legal status under the name of the Guatemalan Labor Party (FGT).
The growth of Communist influence in Guatemala dates from the
leftist-nationalist Revolution of 1944, but it has accelerated since
the Arbenz Administration came to power in 1951. Until 1950 the small
group of Guatemalan Communists, as a party, operated largely clandestinely.
Their sporadic attempts to organize a Party met with little or no success
until 1949 when they held their First Party Congress, adopted the name of
the Communist Party of Guatemala, and elected Jose Manuel,Fortuny Secretary
General. By 1950 the Party began to emerge from i}nderground and by 1951
it was operating openly, despite prohibitions in the Guatemalan Constitu-
tion against political organizations of "an international or foreign
character" or which act in subordination to a foreign government or
political organizations.
The years between 1944 and 1951 which saw the transformation of
the Guatemalan Communists from small clandestine groups into a full-
fledged overt Communist Party also witnessed the spread of Communist in-
fluence in key. social and political sectors. Government departments, the
important non-Communist Administration political parties, press and radio,
and professional and "mass" organizations were subjected to Communist in-
filtration in varying degrees. Of the "mass" organizations Guatemalan
labor unions soon became a prime target for Communist activities. Com-
munist success in this area strengthened overall Communist influence
since it placed under their control the group whose, political support
became essential to the Administration as it moved further toward leftist
and nationalistic extremes.
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Communist efforts to infiltrate Guatemalan labor came to a
climax in 1951 with the formation of the General Confederation of Workers
of Guatemala (CGTG). This 'confederation combined into a singld organiza-
tion under Communist domination the principal unions of the country, ex-
cluding certain rural unions. Many rural workers had been organized as
the National Confederation of Rural Workers (CNCG) the preceding year
under the leadership of Leonardo Castillo Flores who has since become
strongly pro-Communist.
As the Guatemalan Communists moved their Party operations into
the open and succeeded in gaining control of almost all organized labor
in the country, they also made progress in other directions. Communists
and pro-Communists appeared more frequently in government positions and
some of them attained posts of great importance and influence. The
strongly pro-Communist Enrique Munoz Meany and Roberto Alvarado Fuentes
served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1947-1949) and President of-Con-
gress (1951-1952) respectively. Other Communists and fellow trave-ers
won promotions in government service. and strengthened their position in
the official radio and press. Communists and sympathizers increased
their influence in the non-Communist Administration parties and ran for
office on their tickets. At the same time they founded and activated
professional, youth, women's and "peace" Communist front organizations
which, along with the CGTG, began to serve as effective outlets for
Communist propaganda and instruments of Communist political action.
The emergence of the Guatemalan Communist Party as a full-fledged
political organization and its spectacular success in the field of labor
occurred subsequent to the coming to power of the Arbenz Administration.
Indeed Communist success in unifying Guatemalan labor was won with the
encouragement and aid of the Arbenz regime. The same may be said for
other Communist advances in the period between 1951 and the present.
The Communists exploited the Agrarian Reform Law passed in June
of 1952 to extend their penetration of Guatemalan society and to increase
their political capabilities. They steered the law through Congress and
have been most active in implementing it. Through their activities in
this field the Communists hope to win mass support from among the un-
organized peasantry.
The next step in the Communist pattern of penetration in Guatemala
1was to obtain for the Communist Party formal entry into the Administra-
tion party coalition and registration as a legal political organization.
Entry into the government coalition took place in October 1952. Shortly
thereafter the Communist Party changed its name to the Guatemalan Labor
Party (PGT) and registered as a legal party.
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Today, as active supporters of and collaborators with the Arbenz
Government, Communists and pro-Communists continue to increase their
strength and prestige. They can be found in all departments of govern-
ment. Four of the fifty-six deputies in the national legislature are
Communists and many other legislators are fellow travelers and crypto-
Communists. At least one pro-Communist sits on the E'upreme Court. The
executive department from the office of the President to various minis-
tries and the National Agrarian Department is honeycombed with Communists
and sympathizers. Although the Communists have yet to gain a Cabinet
post, two pro-Communists have held the post of Foreign Minister and one
pro-Communist is at present Minister of the Interior. Communists and
confirmed fellow travelers hold key positions in the Social Security In-
stitute, the National Agrarian Department, and the Ministry of Labor.
Moreover, the two top Communists, Josh Manuel Fortuny,.Secretary General
of the PGT, and Victor Manuel Gutidrrez, Secretary General of the CGTG,
have ready access to President Arbenz. Pro-Communists also hold important
diplomatic posts abroad and in the UN. Several are included in the
Guatemalan Delegation to the forthcoming Tenth Inter-American Conference.
The Department of Press, Propaganda and Tourism of the President's office
is heavily infiltrated by Communists and fellow travelers and so are the
official press and radio.
Despite the formation and legalization of the Guatemalan Communist
Party, Communists continue to occupy important positions within the non-
Communist Administration parties. Four Communists or pro-Communists are
currently serving on the Central Committee of the PRG and the pro-Com-
munist Secretary General of this party, Pugusto Charnaud MacDonald, was
recently reelected to this post with the backing of the Communist clique.
Confirmed fellow travelers are at present chief officers of the PAR and
RN and many other pro-Communists may be found occupying influential posts
within these organizations.
In 1953 both the CGTG and the CNCG affiliated with the regional
Communist labor front CTAL and the world labor front WFTU. All key
positions in the CGTG are held by members of the PGT. The CNCG is
strongly influenced by the PGT. Moreover, Leonardo Castillo Flores, lead-
er of the CNCG, recently returned from Moscow apparently a more confirmed
fellow traveler than before he went. Finally, the Communists have ex-
panded their control over labor by leading the government-supported
agrarian reform program. The CGTG and the CNCG gained virtual control of
agrarian reform machinery in June 1953 when Congress voted them two-thirds
of the seats in the 21 Departmental Agrarian Commissions and one-third of
the seats in the National Agrarian Council.
All the Communist front organizations, both professional and "mass",
are at present extremely active in supporting the Arbenz Government in
its struggle against alleged intervention from neighboring countries, in-
cluding the US. They are providing effective machinery for the dissemi-
nation of Communist and official Guatemalan anti-US propaganda. In this
endeavor they are aided and abetted by the government radio and press and
by all the Administration parties.
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nnrmTrYI'TTTTA T 5
The last few years has seen a decided upswing in the number of
Guatemalans who have travelled to. the Soviet Orbit under Communist
auspices. It is estimated that in the second half of 1953 nearly 50
Guatemalans travelled to the Orbit and of these about a dozen visited
Moscow. Both Fortuny and Guti4rrez recently returned from rather ex-
tended visits in the Soviet Union. Upon their return, they accused the
US of collaborating with certain Latin American countries in an alleged
conspiracy against Guatemalan sovereignty.
The Communists in Guatemala have achieved their present influential
position with the toleration and even the encouragement of the Guatemalan
Government, especially that of President Arbenz who has shown a strong
sympathy for them. Arbenz continues to be the key to the Communistst
success. He evidently finds them a useful instrument of government in a
regime which, despite authoritarian tendencies, desires to present a
democratic facade to the world. Whether or not he fully appreciates the
dangers of Communism, he apparently believes that he controls the Com-
munist organization. There is still no doubt that, with the backing of
the Army, Arbenz has the physical force to eliminate Communist ringleaders
and incapacitate the Communist organization. However, ArbenzI program and
militant following are by now so closely identified with Communism that
he probably feels his personal political fortunes would be endangered by
an effort to break with the Communist movement.
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III, Communist. Penetration of Czechoslovakia
(1945 - 1948)
The first Czechoslovak government established in April 1945 con-
tained eight Cownm .st-o holding cabinet posts, as well as two crypto-
Communists, thus giving the Communists 40 percent of the cabinet seats.
The Provisional National Assembly was also heavily occupied by Communists
4nd obedient fellow travelers. The Communists seized practically all
organs of local government, with their enormous powers over the everyday
lives of the citizens. Since the first national election was not held
until a year after the liberation, the Communists had an opportunity to
solidify their position and to develop further organization and penetra-
tion schemes. The nationalization of industry decreed in October 1945
placed most of the nationts important industries in a position where
political pressure from the trade unions and Communists in government
could effectively control them.
In the political arena the Communists had seen to it that the
pre-war conservative parties were not permitted to reorganize and that
the few legal parties were bound to operate within the framework of an
ostensible coalition, the so-called National-Front. The Communists made
no effort to conceal their Soviet connections and in fact used these
connections to silence opposition. Communist control of the police and
of the machinery for punishing wartime collaborators made it easy to
subject outspoken anti-Communists to harassment at the very least and
often arrest and indictment on trumped-up charges of collaboration. In
the elections of May 1946 the Communists won 38 percent of the popular
vote, more than twice as much as any other political party. Together
with the Social Democrats, who had won 13 percent and were amenable to
Communist manipulation, the Communists dominated the National Assembly
The new government formed as a result of this election contained a
Communist Prime Minister (Klement Gottwald), a Communist Deputy Prime
Minister, a crypto-Communist Deputy Prime Minister nominally representing
the Social Democratic Party, and numerous cabinet ministers controlling
such vital ministries as Interior, Agriculture,. Defense, Finance and
Information.
From the very beginning the Communists managed to keep alive the
spirit of terror and uncertainty which the Germans had maintained during
the six years of their occupation. The Czechs were morally exhausted by
this time and were in no mood to expose themselves to danger by opposing
the new totalitarians. A majority of the population sought to make
peace with the Communists, either by outright joining of the Party or, at
the very least, by remaining silent and impassive so as not to incur
Communist disfavor. Normal law and order were never properly reestablished.
The police operated independently of parliamentary and cabinet control.
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The trade union federation, operated by the Germans as a unified suc-
cessor to the various pre--war unions under Communist, Social Democratic
and National Socialist control, was taken over completely by the Com-
munist Party. It was used to voice the most extreme demagogic appeals,
partly to capture for the Communist Party the allegiance of the numerous
and influential industrial laboring classes, and partly to bring pres-
sure on the government and make it impossible'for the pre-war administra-
tive and managerial classes to maintain any control over business and
industry. The Communists in the various factories were organized into
an armed militia which served to intimidate anti-Communists in the fac-
tories themselves and also to create the impression in the population
generally that the Communists were ready to use force to have their way.
The ability of the Communist-dominated unions to paralyze an industry
and indeed the entire country by'strikes also served as a potent means
of intimidating the national government and discouraging effective op-
position by'anti-Communists.
From the beginning the Communists got control of the Ministry of
Information and Enlightenment. The state radio was entirely Communist-
controlled and Communist control of newspaper licensing, newsprint al-
location, and Communist determination of the professional qualifications
of journalists made it very difficult for non-Communist parties to get
their message across-to the peopl3. In addition, criticism of the USSR
was totally prohibited. In practice this meant that criticism of the
Communists was dangerous, since it could be construed by the Communist
police and local administration as criticism of the USSR.
The principal psychological advantage enjoyed by the Communists
was their successful pose as the most nationalist of Czech parties. They
took the initiative in turning the selective expulsion of the Sudeten
Germans into a brutal, mass expulsion and stressed that the Soviet Union
was the best defender of Czechoslovak national interests against the
perennial German menace. Since the West had failed to save Czechoslovakia
at Munich and the Soviet Union eventually liberated four-fifths of Czech-
oslovakia, this argument was accepted more or less by all Czech parties.
It was only one step from this to the Communist claim that they, having
the closest tie to the Soviet Union of any political party, could best
safeguard Czechoslovakia's national interests.
The Communists also masked their true program behind a program of
revolutionary social reform, laying particular stress upon the industrial
workers and the poorer peasants, but avoiding an open espousal of class
warfare. The initiative was wrested away from the non-Communist parties
and the latter were always kept off balrnce bJ trying to meet constantly
increasing demands by the Communists and Communist-controlled mass
organizations for wage increases, nationalization and other far-reaching
measures which impeded the already difficult process of economic recon-
struction.
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Communist control of the Ministry of Agriculture and of local
government made it possible to control the redistribution of land,
fertilizer, farm machinery, seed, credit, rations, apartments and other
material assistance to citizens. Those who opposed the Communists found
themselves systematically discriminated against by the Communist
authorities. At almost every point in an ordinary citizen's daily life
he was in contact with some Communist-controlled organization -- be it
police, trade-union, or government bureau -- which used its powers to
advance Party rather than public interests.
By the time of the final crisis in February 1948 the democratic
parties and the population at large had made so many concessions to the
Communists that it was too late to make an effective stand. President
Benes had cooperated with the Communists from the very beginning as a
matter of elementary national necessity. He had assumed, however, that
the Soviet Union was interested only in Czechoslovakia's maintaining an
unquestioning loyalty to the USSR in international affairs and that the
Soviet Union was not determined to impose a Communist government on the
country. He had also assumed that the Czechoslovak Communists would
continue to play the parliamentary game by the traditional rules, despite
their obvious contempt for democratic procedure and their gradual forma-
tion of almost a state within a state. The immediate occasion for the
February crisis was a demand by the non-Communist parties that the Com-
munist Minister of the Interior cease replacing non-Communist police
officials with Communists. The Communists met this challenge with a
show of force, including the massing of Communists militia and trade-
union activists in Prague. The presence of the Soviet Army on all
Czechoslovak frontiers but one, and the recent seizure of neighboring
regimes by the Communists (Poland and Hungary) created an atmosphere of
hopelessness. From the beginning in 1945 the Czechs had felt that they
had been assigned to the Soviet sphere of influence and that no help
would be forthcoming from the West, even if resistance were offered. As
a result President Benes capitulated to the Communists' demands for a new
government under their control and the population offered no resistance.
The Communist victory in 1948 was only the culmination of a series
of surrenders which the democratic elements had made to the Communists
beginning in 1945. The President and the non-Communist political parties
never became effective rallying points for effective opposition to the
Communists. They persisted in the illusion that the Communists would
continue to share power with them. The population was unwilling to take
risks and was all too ready to compromise to avoid trouble. The impetus
for the final drive for power was probably supplied by the Soviet Union,
since this was the time when Yugoslavia was about to break with the Kremlin
and the Marshall Plan was just coming into existence. The strategic
position of Czechoslovakia, together with its important uranium deposits,
made it absolutely essential to Soviet interests that the country be firmly
in the Soviet grasp.
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Appendix A
Chronology of:.Communist,Penetration of Guatemala
Formation and Emergence of a Communist Party
2. Government Positions Held by Communists and Pro-Communists
3. Communists and Pro-Communists in Labor Organizations
4.. Communists in Professional Organizations
5. Communists in "Mass" Organizations
6. Communist Infiltration of,.and Influence in, other Political Parties
7. President Arbenz' Attitude toward Communists
8. Travel of Guatemalan Communists
9. Government Tolerance of Communist Propaganda
10. Foreign Communists' Visits to Guatemala
11. Attitudes toward and Relations with International Communism
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Formation and Emergence of a Communist Party
1945 Two unsuccessful attempts made to organize
Communist Party.
1947 Unsuccessful effort made to organize Communist
Party under name of National Popular Vanguard.
September 28, 1947 Democratic Vanguard, forerunner of Guatemalan
Communist Party, founded.
September 28, 1949 Guatemalan Communists held First Party Congress,
May 1950
May 1950
adopted name.Communist Party of Guatemala,
and elected Jose Manuel o t Secretary General.
For and nine others resigned from the Party
of Revolutionary Action to form new group,
Vanguard Communist Party, oriented on internar.
tional Communist lines.
Upon resigning from the Party of Revolutionary
Action, Jose Manuel Fortuna and nine others
issued a statement which, in essence, was a
full admission of complete loyalty to Marxism
as fathered by Lenin-Stalin doctrinism, and
.as expressed in 1950 in the domestic and
international policies of the Soviet Union.
Thus: "In the camp of peace are the Soviet
Union, the Popular China of Mao Tse Tung,
the popular democracies of Europe and Asia,
the liberating movement of the colonial and
semi-colonial peoples, and the working class
of all countries, directed by the Communist
parties." *In the camp of the warlike
imperialists are the monopolistic circles and
the financial capital centralized in the
United States ... England ... France and
Italy ..." "The Soviet Union has as a fundamental
basis of its international policy the possibility
of pacific co-existence of the two systems over
a long period." "... the USSR never will be
an aggressor ...N N... the United States and
... the capitalistic countries are ... potential
aggressors ..." N... the working classes ..."
must "... organize ... for ... the fight against
imperialism and reaction.N "What our people
demand is a vanguard party, a party effectively
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3.
June 21, 1950
July 1950
September 6, 1950
April 4, 1951
June 21, 1951
July 1951
January 25, 1952
of the proletariat, really revolutionary,
free of any bourgeois or imperialist
influence ...N N... we will ... fight for the
immediate task of the democratic-bourgeois
revolution ... in order to reach as an end
the inauguration of socialism ...N
Communist-line Revolutionary Workers' Party
of Guatemala founded by Victor Manuel
Qutidrrrez, who published manifesto outlining
pro-Soviet objectives in virtually same manner
that For tuny group did.
Newspaper Oct founded by Communist Party
of Guatemala led by Jose Manuel For .
Octubre first published openly.
Communist indoctrination school named
NJacobo Slnchez1, founded under direction
of Alfredo Querr Borges and Victor Manuel
Qutihrrez.
Jose Manuel row began publicly signing
documents as NSecretary General of the Communist
Party of Quatema1aN. Two Communist manifestoes
appeared in the official press.
Communist Party of Guatemala held first public
ceremony attended by high government officials
at which it announced intention to become a
legally registered party.
Victor Manuel Guti Beres admitted to press
that he was a Communist.
After trip to Moscow, Victor Manuel GutiSrres
dissolved Revolutionary Workere1 Party of
Guatemala and joined the Communist Party of
Guatemala headed by Jost Manuel Fort .
Advised followers to do same.
December 11-14, 1952 Guatemalan Communists held Second Party
Congress, reelected Jose Manuel Fortuny
Secretary General, changed name to Guatemalan
Labor Party, reorganized party along Stalinist
lines, and converted weekly Octubre into daily paper.
/ n1 rTT7Y a%1m T A T
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December 11-14, 1952 In presenting draft statutes of the Guatemalan
Labor (Communist) Party at the Second Party
Congress, the Political Committee described
them as "statutes of the Marxist-Leninist
Party of the .working class of our country"
based upon "... principles with which Lenin
enriched the Marxist doctrine in the creation
of instruments capable of constructing the
new society--more humane, more just, without
the exploited and the exploiters ..."
December 19, 1952 Guatemalan Labor (Communist) Party registered
by Guatemalan Government as legal party in
Civil Registry.
1953 The Guatemalan Labor (Communist) Party adhered
to Soviet line. Thus, it endorsed accusation
of Stalin government that "Jewish doctors" had
plotted the death of certain Soviet leaders,
reversed itself after Stalin1 s death in March
by endorsing the new line put out by feria
that the doctoral confession had been extracted
by "impermissible means", and finally reversed
itself again by Joining in Malenkov's accusa-
tions that Beria was a traitor.
February 17, 1953 "Jacobo S&nches" School reopened in keeping
with Guatemalan Labor (Communist) Party
decision to expand educational program.
May 16-17, 1953 In a policy report to the Central Committee
of the Guatemalan Labor (Communist) Party,
Joe Manuel $g t y laid down a seven point
.plans (1) "The application of Agrarian Reform
must be carried on"; (2) "Intensify the fight
against foreign monopolies and increase the
anti-imperialist sentiment of our people";
(3) "Denounce with greater insistence the
counter-revolutionary. activities of feudal
imperialist reaction ..."; (4) "Give increasing
support to the progressive measures undertaken
by ... President-Arben$"; (5) "Improve the
living conditions of the maseee"; (6) "Cultivate
and strengthen organic unity and united action
of the working class"; and (7) "Tighten the .
alliance between the workers and the peasants."
In this same statement, Portuny addedt "We
Communists are the beet defenders of democratic
liberties here and everywhere."
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5.
August 8-14. 1963 Guatemalan Labor (Communist) Party held
National Conference on organization at which
it claimed 100 percent rise in membership,
or total of approximately 1,150 members.
Anent 15, 1953 Communist organ Tribune Popular published
daily in place of former weekly Octubre.
S.ptsmbsr 6. 1953 The Communist daily Tribuna Po ar carried
a cartoon depicting the United States as a
claw over. Guatemala and captioned "Leave or
go home."
Iovsmbsi 80-22, 1953 For the first time, the Guatemalan Labor
(Communist) Party elected its candidates
mayors of several towns in countrywide
municipal elections.
Jannar: 19, 1954 According to the Communist daily Tri a
Popular, Jose Manuel Portnoy sent the following
message to the US Communist newspaper Daily
Worker: "Accept the warm salute of our Party
on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary
of your newspaper, the valiant spokesman of
the legitimate interests of the North American
people, democracy, socialism, and peace ....N
January 23, 1954 Guatemalan Labor (Communist) Party, Department
of Dscuintla Committee, held Lenin commemora-
tion meeting in government-owned school.
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6.
Government Positions Held by Communists and Pro-Comimxni s to
Abel en Martinez, Salvadoran, appointed
Secretary of Legation in Ecuador.
Ina{s 9ALd-OzA y Arag6n appointed Minister to
USSR,. Norway and Sweden.
1945 Carlos Manuel Pellecer, accredited as First
Secretary to USSR, Norway and Sweden.
1945 Rafael de Puag y Lozano served as Professor
in Humanities in the University of San Carlos,
the national unfi rcity.
1945-1946 Alfonso Orantes served as Minister to Costa Rica.
March 1945 Jose Manuel For , now Secretary General of
Guatemalan Labor Communist) Party, elected a
secretary of National Congress and appointed a
member of its Committees on Foreign Relations
and on Government, Labor and Social Security.
April 1945 Eliseo Martinez Zelada helped organize and
served as Chief of President Areval o ' s
Department of Press, Propaganda and Tourism.
April 1945 Joee Manuel Fortuny appointed member of newly
created Department of Press, Propaganda and
Tourism.
April 1945 to Pedro Geoffroy Riv served as an announcer
February 1946 for government-broadcasting station, TOW.
September 1945 to Enrique oz Meant' served as Minister to France.
September 1947
1946-1947
Julio Antonio Reyes Cardona served as a Sub-
Secretary in Ministry of Economy and Labor.
Alfonso Orantes served as Minister to
Panama.
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1946-1948
.7.
Pebruary 1946 to
June 1946
June 1946
October 1946 to 1947
1947
1947
1947-1948
September 1947 to
September 1949
Carlos Manuel Pellecer made Secretary of
Legation in Paris where hs,aad Minister
Meany associated with various CommTi*
ffgLo
groups. Travailed to Sateli-i1a--countries,
Pedro Geoffroy Rivas; served as member of Board of
Directors of government broadcasting station, TGW.
Alfredo 6i Jonama served as Chief of Propaganda
of government broadcasting station, TGW, of which
he was later made Director.
Luis Cardona y Arag6n'served a& Minister to Colombia.
Alfonso Orante served as Minister to Ecuador.
Abel Cuenca Martfnez served as Press Attach6
in San Jost, Costa Rica.
Rafaele Bun y Lozano appointed adviser to
Minister of Economy and Labor.
Alfonso Ores appointed Minister to Venezuela.
Enrique Muftoz Meany served as Minister of
Foreign Affairs.
Miguel Angel Asturias appointed Cultural Attach4
in Argentina.
Ricardo E. Alves o held position in Ministry
of Education.
1948 Vfctor Manuel Gati~rrez served on Board of
Directors of Guatemalan Institute of Social
Security.
1948-1949 Carlos Manuel Pellecer served as Chief of
Traveling Cultural Missions sponsored by
Ministry of Education.
1948-1949 Alfonso Orante served as Ambassador to Chile.
1948??1949 Ignacio Humberto Ortiz employed by Guatemalan
Institute of Social Security.
1948-1949 Manuel Pinto Usaga served on Board of Directors
of Guatemalan Institute of Social Security.
1948-1949 Alfredo Guerra Borges served as Editor in
Presidentvaa.o's Department of Press,
Propaganda and Tourism.
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1948-1950
February 1948
February 1948 to 1949
March 12, 1948
April 1948 to
January 1949
April 1948
May to June 1948
September 1948 to
April 1950
1949-1950
1949-1950
1949-1950
1949-1950
rr&1Tr T A T
Natzul A rre Cook served In Protocol Section
of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Victor Manuel Gutierrez participated actively
in Traveling Cultural Missions.
Jose.H. Zamora appointed to President Argvaio*s
Department of Press, Propaganda and Tourism.
Alfredo Silva Jonama appointed Under Secretary
in Ministry of Education.
Miguel Angel V4s uez served as Chief of
Publicity In Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Luis.Cardoza y Aragen appointed Ambassador to Chile.
Rafael de Raegy Lozano served as instructor in
Civil Guard.
Luis Oardoza y Aragccn served as Minister to
Prance.
Eliseo Martinez Zelada served as First Secretary
in Cuba.
Miguel Angel Valladares employed by Guatemalan
Institute of Social Security.
Rafael de Buen V Lozano served as Professor
of Biology in University of San Carlos, the
national nai*ersity.
Alfredo errs Borges served as Editor-in-Chief
of official gazette, Diario de Centro America.
Alfredo Silva Jonama served in President Arevalo's
Department of Press, Propaganda and Tourism.
Carlos Manuel Pel ll eoer served as Secretary of
Legation in France.
Antonio Ovando SAnchez employed in Guatemalan
Institute of Social Security.
L
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9.
1949-1952
January 1949
January.1949
January 1949
February 1949
May 1949
July 1949
August 1949
August 1949 to 1950
September 1949
November 1949
Humberto Alvarado served as employee in
President Arevalo's Department of Press,
Propaganda and Tourism.
Virginia avo Letheller served In various
capacities in Ministry of Education, chiefly
as vocational aide-expert.
Miguel Angel Vie guez served in Ministry of
Education as chief editor of publications
section.
Alfredo Guerra Borges appointed Secretary of
Embassy in E1 Salvador.
Carlos Manuel Pelecer appointed Director of
the Traveling Cultural Missions.
Rafael de Buen y Lozano appointed teacher in
Institute of Diplomatic and Consular Training.
Jose Lion de Petro appointed Director of
Institute of Diplomatic and Consular Training.
Joss Mendez Zebadua appointed Director of
Rational Petroleum Institute.
Alvaro Hugo Salg1ero served an Secretary
.of Embassy in Costa Rica.
Hector Mor Garda appointed 'delegate
to United fatitiav General Assembly.
Eliseo Martinez Zelada served as Director,
of government broadcasting station, TOW.
Ricardo E. Alvarado served as Private Secretary
to President Ar valo.
1950 Enr1que t oz Meany reappointed Minister to France.
1950
1950
1950
Rafael de Been y Lozano served as Consultant
for the Production Development Institute.
Carlos Rene Valle employed by National Petroleum
Institute.
Virginia avo Letelier served as adviser to
Minister of Education.
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March 1950
March 1950
April 1950
May 1950
1950-1951
1950-1952
1951
1951
1951
February 1951
Ricardo F. Alvarado appointed Ambassador to
costa Rica.
Humberto Alvarado made head of President
Arivalo's Department of Press, Propaganda aril
Tourism.
Alvaro Hugo Sal ero appointed Private Secretary
to President Ar va1Q.
Miguel Angel Asturias appointed Counselor of
Embassy in Argentina.
Virginia Bravo Letelier headed Department of
Audio Visual Aid in Ministry of Education.
Octavio Be es Ortiz employed by National
Petroleum Institute.
Hdctor Mom Garcia served as Minister of
Education.
Max Ricardo Cuenca Martinez employed in
Guatemalan Institute of Social Security.
Natzul A rre Cook served on Board of
Directors of Guatemalan Institute of
Social Security.
Bernardo Alvarado Monz6n served on Board of
Directors of Guatemalan Institute of
Social Security.
Vfctor Manuel Guti4rrez served on Board of
Directors of Guatemalan Institute of
Social Security.
Bernardo Alvarado Monz6n served as a member
of Board of Directors of the Guatemalan
Institute of Social Security.
April 1951 Alfonso Soldrzano appointed head of Guatemalan
Institute of Social Security.
May 1951 Abel Cuenca Martinez appointed office manager
of Guatemalan Institute of Social Security.
November 1951 Enrique Muffoz Meany appointed Chief of Delega-
tion to United Nations General Assembly.
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11.
MIR- MY
1951-1953
1952
1952
1952
Carlos Serrano served as editor of government
subsidized Nuestro DiMio.
Jose olfs Rojas employed in Guatemalan
Institute of Social Security.
Natzul Aguirre Cook employed by Guatemalan
Aviation Company.
Edelberto Torre headed Editorial Office,
Ministry of Education, and taught in the
University .of San Carlos, the national
university.
1952 Miguel Angel 9alladares employed in Cultural
Missions.
1952 Carlos Rent Valle employed by National
Petroleum Institute.
1952-1953
Oscar Benitez Bone, Minister to Panama,
engaged in Communist activities which
resulted in his recall being requested
by the Panamanian Government.
Victor Manuel Guti4rrez and Jose Alberto
Cardoza served, respectively, as Chairmen of
Congress' Special Committee on Agrarian
Reform and Special. Committee on Revision
of the Labor Code.
1952-1953 Julio Est r de la Hoz served as President
of Congress.
March 24, 1952 Jaime Dfaz Rossotto appointed Secretary
General of the Presidency.
March 24, 1952 Virgilio Zauata Mends appointed member
of National Electoral Board.
May 1952 Manuel Pinto Usaga appointed Consul in
Mexico City.
-July 1952 Leonardo Castillo- Flores and Josb Lnie Ramos
appointed to National Agrarian Council,
supreme policy agency of National Agrarian
system.
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September 1952
September 1952
September 1952
October 1952
November 21, 1952
1953
April 1953
July 1953
July 1953
July 1953
July 31, 1953
August 28, 1953
Rafael Tischler appointed by National
Agrarian Department as its representative
to Directorate General of Fundamental
Education.
Rat1 Leiva appointed Acting Director of the
official radio station, TGW.
Leonardo Castillo Flores, Josg Luis Ramos,
Otto Ra nzd1ez and Max nzalez served
on National Agrarian Department delegation
which distributed 44,000 acres of land to
farm workers.
Oscar Benitez Bone appointed Minister to Bolivia.
Rawl Oseaueda appointed Foreign Minister.
Alfonso Orantee served as President of National
Electoral Board.
Victor Manuel Gutierrez served on faculty of
the University of San Carlos, the national
univexnt ty.
Victor Manuel Gutierrez and Jose Alberto
Cardoza elected chairmen, respectively,
of the Agrarian Reform and Labor Code
Revision Committees.of the National Congress.
Carlos Alvarado Jerez serving as Director of
official radio station, TGW.
Eliseo Mar-t?nez Zelada appointed Ambassador
to Bolivia.
Roberto Alvarado Fuentes appointed Ambassador
to Mexico.
Miguel Angel Asturias appointed Ambassador
Carlos Alvarado Jerez appointed Airector
General of Radio Broadcasting.
Jose Luis Ramos of the Guatemalan Labor.
(Comnnist Party was a member of the
National Agrarian Council.
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Tft"M"6b
September 1953 Carlos Gonzl.ez Orellana appointed to UN
delegation..
September 1953
October 1953
Julio Estrada de la Hoz appointed to UN
delegation.
Hugo Barrios KlSe appointed Deputy
Inspector General of Labor.
October 9, 1953 Otto Raufl Gonzl.ez served as representative
of Directorate. General of Statistics on
National Agrarian Council.
October 9, 1953 Raul. Leiva served in President Jacobo Arbenzi
Information Office as Chief of Press Section.
October 9, 1953 The following members of the Guatemalan Labor
(Communist) Party were employees of the
National Agrarian Department: Waldemar Barrios
KLSe, Natzul Aguirre Cook, Marco Antonio Blanco,
Florencio M4ndez, Juan Rafael Vittorazz ,
Rafael Tischler, ~kgenio Arrivillaga V liz,
Roberto Bran Maldonado, Jorge Villavivencio
Marroqu n, and Eduardo So.sa Montalvo.
October 9, 1953 In National Agrarian Department some top
officials, 13 of 20 inspectors and, at least,
12 of 350 other employees are Communists or
Communist sympathizers. Guatemalan Labor
Party, through General Confederation of
Guatemalan Workers and National Confederation
of Rural Workers of Guatemala, exerts strong
influence in implementation of Agrarian Law.
November 9, 1953 Four of 56 deputies in Congress are Commu-
nists -- V?ctor Manuel Gutigrrez, Jose Alberto
Cardoza, .C6sar Montenepo Paniagua, Carlos Manuel
Pellecer.
January 1954 Waldemar Barrios Kl4e appointed Acting Chief
of National Agrarian Department.
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nnLTtI1T1 1fTmT AT,
Communists and Pro-Communists.in Labor Organizations
December-5, 1944 Confederation of Guatemalan Workers founded
with help of Communists particularly from
El Salvador.
1946 Labor indoctrination school, Escuela Claridad,
established in the Confederation of Guatemalan
Workers with Abel Cuenca Martinez as director.
1946 Vfctor Manuel .qut ti rrez served as Secretary
General of the Confederation of Guatemalan
Workers and of the Union of Educational Workers
of Guatemala, and as a member of the Committee
of Syndical Unity and of the Executive Committee
of CTAL.
January 1946 QTctor Manuel Guti4rrez elected deputy on the
Confederation of Guatemalan Workers-Party of
Revolutionary Action ticket from the Depart-
ment of, Guatemala to the National Congress,
in which body he took an active interest in
labor problems.
January 1946 Syndical Federation of Guatemala formed and
became the largest Communist-controlled
labor organization in Guatemala.
1946-1947 Manuel Pinto Usaga served as member of the
National Executive Committee and Secretary
of Organization and Propaganda for the
Syndical Federation of Guatemala.
December 1946 National Committee of Syndical Unity formed
under Communist auspices to coordinate the
activities of the Confederation of Guatemalan
Workers, the Syndical Federation of Guatemala,
and the Central Regional Federation of Workers.
Emphasized line followed by World Federation
of Trade Unions and Latin American Confederation
of Workers.
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15.
Confederation of Guatemalan Workers joined
praise of USSR with denunciations of US
imperialism.
Vector Manuel Gu.tigrrez organized the United
Fruit Company union, of the Confederation of
Guatemalan Workers.
Secretary General Vector Manuel Gutigrrez
stated that the Confederation of Guatemalan
Workers would organize peasant communes.
December 1948 Manuel Pinto Usaga of the Railway Workers'
Union founded its Political Committee.
May 1, 1949 May Day Parade demonstrated the Communist-
controlled World Federation of Trade Unions
and Latin American Confederation of Workers
direction of Guatemalan organized labor.
President Ar4valo and government closely
identified themselves with these May Day
festivals.
September 1949 National Committee of Syndical Unity at
suggestion of Manuel Pinto Usaga advocated
an agrarian reform program.
December 18-19, 1949 Railway Workers' Political Committee adopted
Communist-line policy statement.
January 21-22, 1950 Manuel Pinto Usaga organized and became
Secretary General of the National Political
Committee of Guatemalan Workers.
1950
January 1950
Vector Manuel Gutierrez elected Secretary of
Propaganda for the, National Political Committee
of Guatemalan Workers. In his keynote address
at the national convention of workers1 political
committees, GutiSrrez clearly stated his
belief in Communism.
Influenced chiefly by Manuel Pinto Usaga,
the Syndical Federation of Guatemala affiliated
with the World Federation of Trade Unions
and the Latin American Confederation of Workers.
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16.
December 22, 1950
January 1951
Communist-controlled Revolutionary Workers
of Guatemala presented medals to President-
elect Arbenz and to Minister of Communications
and Public Works, Colonel Carlos Aldana Sandoval,
Syndical Federation of Guatemala and Confedera-
tion of Guatemalan Workers urged their
affiliates to collect assessment for annual
contribution to the Latin American Confedera-
tion of Workers.
January 1951 Secretary General of the National Political
Committee.of Workers, Manuel Pinto Usaga,
announced the organization's continued
operation despite fact it was formed with
sole purpose of participating in 1950
elections.
January 29, 1951 to Syndical Federation of Guatemala controlled
January 29, 1953 by Secretary General Manuel Pinto Usaga and
other Communists and fellow travelers.
May 1, 1951 Labor demonstration displayed anti-US and
pro-Communist slogans.
May 10-13, 1.951 Conference by World Federation of Trade
Unions and Latin American Confederation of
Workers with representatives of Latin
American Land and Air Transport syndicates
held in Guatemala City with participation
of Communist labor leaders (including World
Federation of Trade Unions Secretary General
Luis Saillant and Latin American Confederation
of Workers Secretary General Lombardo Toledano).
Opening meeting attended by prominent officials
of Guatemalan Government. In addition to
usual denunciations of US and propaganda for
peace, the conference urged unification of
Guatemalan labor.
October 12-14, 1951 General Confederation of Guatemalan Workers.
embracing all labor organizations of any
importance formed at labor congress in
Guatemala City with help of World Federation
of Trade Unions Louis Saillant and Latin
American Confederation of Workers Vicente
Lombardo Toledano. Vector Manuel Gutierrez
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17.
elected Secretary General and Communists
placed in key positions. All speeches at
Congress-followed the Communist line.
Messages of congratulations sent. by President
Arbenz and ex-President Arevalo. Attending
this meeting were Minister. of Communications
and Public Works as Arbenz'.official represen-
tative and President of National Congress.
Victor Manuel (.iti4rrez elected Secretary
General.
March 1952 Communist-influenced labor and political
organizations assured Administration of their
support in face of anti-Communist demonstration.
May 28 to June 1, 1952 Jose Luis Ramos elected secretary for training
of National Confederation. of Rural Workers of
Guatemala.
July 1952
Diario de .Centro Amrica, government official
newspaper, quoted Carlos Manuel Pellecer as
saying that the General Confederation of
Guatemalan Workers had directed formation of
committees of self-defense to fight shoulder
to shoulder with authorities of the country
"against the enemies of the Revolution."
The National Confederation of Rural Workers
of Guatemala announced that it had taken part
in forming about 400 local Agrarian Commissions.
The General Confederation of Guatemalan Workers
continued to send propaganda squads into rural
areas.
September 1952 Pro-Communist Secretary General of'the National
Confederation of Rural Workers Leonardo Castillo
Flores, expelled Amor '!elasco de Lean which
opened way for tighter control by Communists.
June 18-20, 1953 Communists and Communist sympathizers made
impressive gains in the Railway Workers' Union
by winning elections for officers.
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18.
June 19, 1953 Communist-controlled General Confederation
of Guatemalan Workers and Communist-oriented
National Confederation of Rural Workers gained
virtual control of Agrarian Reform machinery
when National Congress voted them 2 of 3
positions on Departmental Agrarian Commissions.
Augu$t 27, 1953 Victor Manuel Guti4rrez announced that the
World Federation of Trade Unions had accepted
affiliation of the Central Confederation of
Guatemalan Workers.
October 9, 1953 All key positions in the General Confederation
of Guatemalan Workers held by members of the
Guatemalan Labor (Communist) Party.
October 9, 1953
With pro-Communist Leonardo Castillo Flores
as Secretary General, the National Confedera-
tion of Rural Workers is strongly influenced
by the Guatemalan Labor (Communist) Party.
Tri a Popular, the Communist daily, reported
that V ctor Manuel Gutigrrez, Carlos Manuel
Pellecer and Victor A. Leal were elected to
the General Council of the World Federation
of Trade Unions.
December,1953 to Labor organizations throughout Guatemala held
January 1954 a series of meetings to build up enthusiasm
for the Second National Congress of the
General Confederation of Guatemalan Workers.
January 30, 1954 Second National Congress of the General Con-
federation of Guatemalan Workers offered
President Arbenz support "in face of plans
of imperialist intervention in connivance
with traitors to Guatemala." Victor Manuel
Gutigrrez reelected Secretary General.
February 1, 1954 The, General Confederation of ,Guatemalan Workers
distributed banners protesting "foreign
intervention" which were flown over many
cities and towns. At its headquarters in
Guatemala City the red Communist flag flew
beside the Guatemalan emblem.
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19.
February.1, 1954 At the Second National Congress of the
General Confederation of Guatemalan Workers,
Carlos Manuel Pellecer stated that Fascism,
crushed in Europe, had risen again with
renewed vigor in the United States.
February 2, 1954 The Second National Congress of the General
Confederation of Guatemalan Workers proposed
to the government that active diplomatic
relations be renewed with the USSR.
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20.
Communists in Professional Organizations
January 1945 Syndicate of Guatemalan Educational Workers
founded with help of Communists and Communist
sympathizers, including Jose Manuel FortunY.
1947 During or before 1947, Syndicate of Revolu-
tionary Intellectual and Artistic Workers,
a Communist-oriented syndicate of artists
and intellectuals, was founded.
February 1947 Intellectual organization, S er-Ti, Association
of Young Artists and Writers, founded by
Communists.
November 29, 1947
December 1949
January 12, 1951
Syndicate of Guatemalan Educational Workers,
led by teachers who are Communists or inclined
toward Communism, was given legal status as
a trade union of intellectuals.
Communist-oriented Syndicate of Guatemalan
Educational Workers attacked educational
program of Institute of Inter-American Affairs
as being too US-influenced.
Meeting of persons interested in "Peace?
campaign held under auspices of Communist-
oriented Syndicate of Guatemalan Educational
Workers.
October 9, 1953 Saker-Ti association operating as Communist
front group.
October 16-19, 1953 The Second Continental Conference of Democratic
Lawyers held under auspices of Communist-
controlled International Association of
Democratic Lawyers. It attracted less than
a score of foreign delegates. The government
gave it strong support. Foreign Ministry
assigned at least $10,000 to help it. The
entire Guatemalan Supreme Court attended as
part of Guatemalan delegation.
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Communists in ?Mass Organizations"
December 21, 1947 Fedpration of Democratic Youth -of" Guatemala,
affiliate of Communist World Federation of
Democratic Youth, founded by a group including
several prominent Communists. It has been
active among university students as a
propaganda organ.
September 1948 Guatemalan Committee for Peace and Democracy
formed for the purpose of furthering "interna-
tional peace, liberty.and democracy." Several
known Communists were among its founders.
August 1949 National Peace Committee reactivated at meeting
presided over by Communists and Communist
sympathizers. This took place after the
return.of Jose Manuel Forte, Victor Manuel
Gut6rezz,, and Alfonso Sow lbrzauo from the
First World Congress of Partisans of Peace.
Pro-Communist Jaime D Rozzotto elected
Secretary General.
April 1950
Federation of Guatemalan Women founded with
Communist help. Sra. de Arbenz, the Presi-
dent's wife, was a founding member of the
organization.
New Committee of Partisans of the Peace
organized by Communists and Communist
sympathizers.
February 12, 1951 Peace Committee stepped up publicity campaign.
March 2-4, 1951
April 20, 1951
December 1951
Federation of Democratic Youth of Guatemala
held annual congress which was devoted to
speeches in which. the US was violently attacked
and Communist "peace" line eulogized.
Pro-Communist Roberto Alvarado Fuentes,
delivered a strong Communist-line speech at
a meeting in honor of the Second Spanish
Republic in which he espoused the "peace" campaign.
First National Conference for the Protection
of Children held in Guatemala City. It
established Children's Welfare Council.
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nnzr M-rMM ah.RIT AT.
1952
January 22, 1952
National Peace Committee sponsored showings
of the film "Bacteriological Warfare in
Korea", purporting to prove that the United
States employed germ warfare during the
Korean hostilities.
Democratic University Front founded
primarily to further Communist ideology
at University of San Carlos, the national
university.
May 23-25, 1952
National Assembly for Peace held.
June 14, 1952
The National Peace Committee elected Alfredo
Silva Jonama Secretary General.
February 1953
Federation of Democratic Youth of Guatemala
sponsors "National Conference on the Rights
of Youth."
October 9, 1953
Confederation of Secondary School Students,
Communist front for high school students,
was founded.
October 9
1953
Pro-Communist Sra. Dora Franco y Franco is
,
the Secretary General of the Federation of
Guatemalan Women.
October 9,
1953
Secretary General of Democratic University
Front is Cesar Augasto Calazi, a pro-Communist.
1953
October 9
Communist Bernardo Lemur is Secretary General
,
of Federation of 'nemocratic Youth of Guatemala.
December 1953
Communist-incited mobs forcibly seized land
and installations on 20 or more farms in
Department of Escuintla.
The Communist-controlled National Peace
Committee announced that it had gathered
74,000 signatures in petition for negotia-
tions between US. UK, USSR, France, and
Communist China.
TQ'n1RlT AT.
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23.
July 24, 1953
December 21, 1953
Pro-Communist Jaime Dfaz Rozzotto delivered
a lecture sponsored by the Guatemalan Spanish
Republican "Pro-Peace" Committee in which he
made frequent references. to the Soviet "peace"
movement and. other Communist objectives.
The official radio TGWA announced that:
"the Youth Section of the Guatemalan Workers1
Party is scheduled to meet on December 21
at Party Headquarters to honor the memory of
the leader of the working class, Joseph Stalin."
February 4, 1954 The Communist-controlled Democratic University
Front sent a message to President Arbenz
expressing its repudiation of interventionist
plans against Guatemala.
Cn iPTrI .Mm TAT
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Communist Infiltration of, and Influence in, other Political Parties
March 19, 1945
1946 - 1949
January 1946
1949
Jose Manuel Fortuny was active and far
leftist member of Popular Front, of
Liberation on whose ticket he was elected
to Congress.
Jose Manuel Fortuny joined the Party of
Revolutionary Action, a pro-Government
party, and occupied at various times a
number of important posts: 1946 to early
1947, Secretary General; March 1947,
Secretary of Acts; November 1947, Secre-
tary General; 1949, Member of Political
Committee; he also served as Secretary of
Propaganda.
Victor Manuel Guti6rrez elected deputy to
National Congress on Confederation of
Guatemalan Workers - Party of Revolution-
ary Action ticket, from Department of
Guatemala.
Manuel Pinto Usaga elected on Party of
Revolutionary Action -.Committee of Syn-
dical Unity ticket to National Congress.
Carlos Manuel Pellecer, after return from
Czechoslovakia, gtepped into leadership
role within Party of Revolutionary Action.
Manuel Pinto Usaga elected Secretary of
Labor Union Affairs for National Executive
Committee of Party of Revolutionary Action
and became a member of strategic Political
Committee.
Party of Revolutionary Action officials
chosen in 1949 included such Communists as
Jos4 Manuel Fort , Manuel Pinto Usaga.,
Hector Morgan Garc a, Victor Manuel
Guti6rrez, and pro-Communist Augusto
Charnaud MacDonald who constituted an in-
fluential element..
~'1 !'11iT'f~ TTI: wrm -
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25.
March 9, 1949 Victor Manuel Gutierrez, member of
Party of Revolutionary Action National
Executive Committee in charge of Social
Affairs, resigned in protest at Secre-
tary General's decision not to'let Party
of Revolutionary Action be represented
at Mexico City "peace" meeting.
1950 National Political Committee of Workers
founded by Communists to support Colonel
Jacobo Arbenz and congressional candi-
dates in 1950 election campaign.
July 1950 Jose Manuel Forty dismissed from
National Electoral Board on grounds
appointment was interim, expiring end
of July. Dissenting Supreme Court judges,
strongly backed by Party of Revolutionary
Action - National Renovation Party organi-
zation and pro-Government newspapers,
vigorously opposed dismissal on technical
grounds.
November 29, 1950 Party of Revolutionary Action ticket of
congressional candidates included at least
six individuals of well-known Communist
or pro-Communist views.
March 2, 1951 Pro-Communist Roberto Alvarado Fuentes,
Secretary General of Party of Revolution-
ary Action, served as President of the
National Congress.
April 20, 1951 Party of Revolutionary Action secured the
appointment by Congress of Communist
Alfonso Orantes, one of-its members, to
,one of the three positions on the National
Electoral Board.
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June 1951
~e,~rr~~rrr~z
26.
Agitation for formation of a United Democratic
Front (Party of Revolutionary Action,
Guatemalan Communist Party, Revolutionary
Workers) Party of Guatemala) Increased.
Party of Revolutionary Action appointed a
committee composed largely of Communists-and
Communist sympathizers to represent.it in
negotiations for the formation of this front.
June 5, 1951 Pro-Administration parties participated in
Partisans of Peace meeting.
July 19, 1951
February 1952
June 1952
With assistance of Communists and pro-Communists,
Alliance of Democratic Parties formed., composed
of Party of Revolutionary Action, National
Renovation Party, Popular Front.of Liberation,
and Party of National Integrity.
39 members of the dissolved Communist
controlled Revolutionary,Workersl Party of
Guatemala joined the Party of Revolutionary
Action. This move increased the strong
leftist influence within the Party of
Revolutionary Action.
As principals in the establishment of
Guatemalan Revolutionary Party as the
"single revolutionary party," Alfonso Sol6-,~ rzaano,
Abel enca Martinez, and Roberto Alvarado
Fuentes showed themselves as favoring the
continued use of the Administration parties
for furthering Conmmxniat objectives.
June 1952 Roberto Alvarado Fuentes served as Secretary
General of the Party of Revolutionary Action.
Guatemalan Communist Party. included with other
pro-Administration parties in "Democratic
Electoral Front."
November 1952 Jose Manuel Fortuna, Secretary General of
Guatemalan Communist Party, endorsed as one
of two "Democratic Electoral Front" candidates
for Deputy from Department of Guatemala.
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27.
December 29, 1952 The "Democratic Electoral Front" of pro-
Administration parties exhibited a bacteriological
warfare film at & political rally held.in
Guatemala City.
January 16-18, 1953
February 6, 1953
One Communist candidate of the pro-government
coalition elected to Congress to give Guatemalan
'Labor (Communist) Party total of 4 seats. Party
,of Revolutionary Action, which collaborated closely
with Communists, controlled 22 seats after elections.
Virgilio Zapata Mend?a, a member of National
Electoral Board and a leader of pro-Communist
wing of the National Renovation Party, appointed
by Congress to fill one of vacancies of four
dismissed Supreme Court Justices.
March 25, 1953 Party of Revolutionary Action issued a bulletin
calling for Guatemala to withdraw from ODECA
in view of Salvadoran proposal to discuss
joint action against Communism on grounds that
such action constituted intervention in
Guatemala's domestic affairs.
April 1953 Pro-Communist Jaime D?az Rozzotto was serving
as Secretary General of the National Renovation
Party.
April 1953
Pro-Communist Alvaro Hugo Salauero. was serving
as Secretary General of the Party of Revolu,-
tionary Action.
October 1953 Guatemalan Labor (Communist) Party sought to
advance its popular front tactic by holding
mass meetings in favor of creation of a
strengthened "National Democratic Front."
October 1953 Francisco Fernndez Foncea, Secretary General
of Party of Revolutionary Action'said the
party was a transitory party like other
revolutionary parties all of which were
destined to become part of the "great world
communist Party."
CON a
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October 1953 Julio Estrada de la Hoz, pro-Communist
ear-President of Congress, was elected to
be Secretary General of the Party of
Revolutionary Action to succeed Francisco
PernAndez Poncea.
October 9, 1953 Jaime Dfaz Rozzoto, pro-Communist, Secretary
General of the National Reform Party.
October 9, 1953 Revolutionary Party of Guatemala headed by
pro-Communist Augusto Charnaud MacDonald.
On Political Committee are Alfonso Sol6rzano,
Abel Cuenca Max tinez, and Roberto Alvarado.
Fuentes, all Communists or pro-Communists.
January 15-17, 1954 The First National Congress of the Guatemalan
Revolutionary Party reaffirmed its pro-
Communist orientation by reelecting pro-
Communist Augus to Charnaud MacDonald, Minister
of the Interior as Secretary General with the
backing of a Communist and pro-Communist
clique. The party elected to its central
Committee Communists and pro-Communists
Roberto Alvarado Fuentes, Abel Cuenca
Mart1nez, Alfonso Soldrzano, and Ernesto
Capuano del Vecchio.
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President Arbenzt Attitude toward Communists
May 1950
January 31, 1952
During 1950 Presidential campaign, Communist
Joss For named campaign organizer for
Jacobo Arbenz: GuzmAn.
:Guatemalan 'Communist Party representatives
reported by press as sitting in on President
Arbenz1 political conference with representa-
tives of other pro-Administration parties.
By official decree President Arbenz transferred
without compensation a building owned by the
government to the General Confederation of
Guatemalan Workers.
March 24, 1952 Arbenz appointed pro-Communist Jaime Diaz
Rossoto, Secretary General of the Executive
Office.
April 24, 1952 President Arbenz held a meeting of pro-
government parties represented in Congress
which include a Guatemalan 'Communist Party delega-
tion headed by Communist Jo eh Manuel For
The presence of the Communists confirmed that
the party was for all practical purposes a
member, though not a signatory, of."The
Alliance of Revolutionary Parties".
January 1953 The administration, under pressure from
Communists to hasten application of Agrarian
Reform Law,. showed, inclination to meet their
demands.
March 1953
May 1953
President Arbenz in Annual Message to.Congress
stated that he would not suppress Communism
In Guatemala.
President Arbenz put weight of his prestige
behind the General Confederation of Guatemalan
Workers by reviewing International Labor Day
Parade and sitting on speakers platform while
Victor Manuel Outi4rrez attacked the United
States and praised. the USSR.
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July 1953 Police arrested Luis Valladares y Aycinena
Secretary General of the Unified Anti-
Communist Party, the country's largest,anti-
Communist Party, for complicity in the March 1953
uprising in Salama, Guatemala.
October 16-19, 1953 President Arbenz sent Communist collaborator
Marnaud MacDonald, Mifiister of Interior, to
convey his personal greetings to the Communist-
sponsored Second Continental Conference of
Democratic Lawyers held in Guatemala City.
December 16, 1953 President Arberiz admitted to U.S. Ambassador
the presence of Communists and Communist
sympathizers in the National Agrarian Depart-
ment, Guatemalan Institute of Social Security,
and the Directorate General of Radio Broadcasting.
December 16, 1953 President Arbenz expressed to U.S. Ambassador
opinions that if there were a choice, it would
be better for Guatemala to live under Commu-
nist domination than with the United Fruit Co.
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31.
Travel of Guatemalan Communists
March 1948 Vfctor Manuel Gutierrez attended the Third
General ordinary Congress of the Latin
American Confederation of Workers held in
Mexico City.
.October 1948 Carlos Manuel Pellecer returned from Czecho-
slovakia.
1949 Carlos Manuel Pellecer visited Eastern
Europe.
.1949 VCctor Manuel Gutierrez was the Confederation
of Guatemalan Workers' delegate to the Second
World Federation of Trade Unions Congress at
Milan, at which he was elected to the
.Executive Committee of the World Federation.
He was also the delegate of the Confederation
-of Guatemalan Workers and the Union of Educa-
tional Workers of Guatemala to the 1949 World
Peace Congress held,in Paris. He organized
.Guatemalan "pro-peacetl committees of August
1949 and April 1950,.both branches of the
Communist-front, World Committee of Partisans
of Peace.
April 1949 Jose Manuel Fortuny was delegate to Paris
World.Peace Congress, after which he visited
Iron Curtain countries for two months.
June 1949 Victor,Manuel Gutierrez, Secretary General of
the Confederation' of Guatemalan Workers,
left Guatemala to attend the Milan meeting
of the World Federation of Trade Unions on a
-diplomatic passport. Manuel Pinto Usaga
and Jose Segnar traveled to Israel and
fraternized with Israeli labor unions.
June 1949 Manuel Pig nto Usaga attended the Second World
Federation of Trade Unions Congress in Milan
at invitation of Vicente Lombardo Toledano.
September 1949 Jose Manuel Fortuny, President of Guatemalan
delegation at the American Continental Congress
for Peace in Mexico City, was made a member of
over-all Directing Committee for Central America.
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32.
September 1949 Victor Manuel Gutierrez represented the
January 1951
June 1951
July 1951 to
November 1952
July 1951
October 25, 1951
November 1951
November 1951 to
January 1952
March 1952
April 1952
Federation of Democratic Youth of Guatemala
at the American Continental Congress for
Peace in Mexico City.
Enrique Juarez Toledo, Guatemalan poet,
attended Peace Conference in Poland.
The Syndicate of Guatemalan Educational
Workers accepted an invitation to send a
delegate to Berlin Youth Festival.
Thirty-eight persons left Guatemala to attend
Communist-sponsored international conference
and 19 were to attend such meetings in
December 1952.
It was announced that six members of a Guate-
malan delegation were to attend Berlin Youth
Festival.
Victor Manuel Gutierrez traveled to Europe,
ostensibly to attend a World Federation of
Trade Unions meeting in Paris (or Berlin).
Roberto Alvarado Fuentes and Luis Cardoza
y Aragon attended World Peace Congress in
Vienna.
Victor Manuel Gutierrez attended the World
Federation of Trade Unions Congress in
Berlin after which he spent two months
visiting the USSR and satellite countries,
returning to Guatemala on January 9, 1952.
Hemisphere Peace Conference at Montevideo
attended by 6 Guatemalana including one
residing in Buenos Aires and one in Chile.
Two Guatemalans and one alien resident in
Guatemala attended International Conference
in Defense of Children held at Vienna.
L; un FIDE=
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33.
May 1952
Alfredo Silva Jonama, a member of the Political
Committee of the Guatemalan Communist. Party,
visited Moscow and attended preliminary meeting
of the Asiatic and Pacific Peace Conference in
Pekin.
August-September 1952 One Guatemalan attended the International
Students Union Council held at Bucharest.
October 1952 The following Guatemalans attended the. Asiatic
and Pacific Peace Conference: Juan Antonio
Cruz Franco, Garmen Moran, Carlos Alvarado
Jerez, Jose Alberto Cardoza, Francisco
Galicia del Valle. Cardoza visited Moscow
both -going and coming.
.October 1952 AlfkedoiSilva,Jonama returned from China, the
USSR, and the Peoples Democracies.
November, 1952 Augusto.Cazali Avila., Secretary General of the
Democratic University Front, returned from
the August-September conference of Inter-
national Students Union in Bucharest.
November 7, 1952 Guatemalan National Committee for Peace named
4 delegates to World Congress of Peoples for
Peace in Vienna: Sra. Elena de Barrios Klee,
Director of Governmenlis Normal School for
Women, Pauline Ovalle, Director of Nuestro
Diario, Captain Terencio Guilleon, Governor of
the Department of Escuintla, Joaqu.{n Artiga
de Ledn, President of Peace Committee of the
Department of Santa Rosa.
December 1952 Thirteen Guatemalan delegates attended the
World Federation of Trade Unions Social.
Security Conference, Vienna.
1953 Victor Manuel Gutiirrez attended the World
Federation of Trade Unions Congress in Vienna.
March 20, 1953 . Victor Manuel Guti4rrez and two other delegates
left Guatemala to attend the Conference of the
Latin American Confederation of Workers held
in.Santiago, Chile.
April 1953 Oscar Edmundo Palma of the Guatemalan Labor
(Communist) Party visited Moscow after
attending the April World Peace Congress in
Budapest.
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3.4.
June 1953 Guatemalan delegation to World Peace Council
in Budapest included-Lieutenant Colonel
-Carlos Paz Tejada, Major Marco Antonio
Franco and . Oscar Edmundo Palma.
June to December 1953 48 Guatemalans visited Soviet orbit during
this period of which 11 went to Moscow.
July 1953
August 1953
November 1953
December 1953
Oscar Edmundo Palma, Secretary of Propaganda
for the National Peace Committee., attended
the World Peace Council held in Bucharest.
Guatemalan delegation attended World Youth
Festival in Bucharest after which some members
visited the USSR.
Gabriel ame , a farm union leader, visited the
Soviet Union.
Victor Manuel Gutierrez, returned from Moscow
at the head of the Guatemalan delegation
which. had toured the'Soviet Union after-attend-
ing the Third World Federation of Trade Unions
Congress-held in October. in Vienna. The
delegation consisted of Leonardo Castillo
Flores, Jose Luis Cacero, of the Railway
Workers' Union,. Jos Luis. Ramos, Vice Secretary
for Agrarian Affairs of the General Confederation
of Guatemalan Workers, and Jose Luis del Cid,
member of the General Confederation of Guatemalan
Workers' Executive Committee.
December 1953 Humberto Hernandez Cobos, Civil Registrar for
Guatemala, flew to Vienna to attend the World
Congress of Democratic Lawyers.
January 8, 1954 Jose Manuel Fortun , Secretary. General of the
Guatemalan Labor Communist) Party, returned
from Moscow for which he had departed on
.November 5, 1953?-
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35.
Government Tolerance of Communist Propaxanda
September 1949
May 1, 1950
Guatemalan official and pro-government press
gave considerable coverage to Communist-
inspired Mexican Peace Congress.
May Day speeches by Communists Jose Manuel
Yorturgy and Manuel Pinto Usaga followed
closely Communist-line.
July 19, 1950 First anniversary of the suppression of the
July 1949 revolt declared official holiday
and public meeting held with speeches by
representatives of pro-government parties.
Organized labor leaders attended; Deputy
Manuel Pinto Usaga attacked US- in Communist-
line speech.
February 12, 1951 Official and semi-official press accelerated
efforts. to publicize Communist "peace" campaign.
March 2-3, 1951 Annual Congress of Federation of Democratic
Youth of Guatemala received generous publicity
in official and semi-official newspapers which
attacked. US and supported the Communist line.
March 8, 1951 Official and semi-official press publicized
meeting sponsored by Minister of Education
in which US was attacked. and Communist "peace>
line enthusiastically expounded.
April 20-27, 1951 Official press aided accelerated "peace"
campaign with daily coverage. Alfonso Soldrzano,
head of the Guatemalan Institute of Social
Security, spoke at peace rally.
May 25, 1951 Semi-official Diario de la ana devoted
nearly two pages to preparations for the Third
World Youth Festival in Berlin.
June 1, 1951 Semi-official press carried eight column
headlines saying "great enthusiasm" had been
aroused for Berlin Festival among Guatemalan
youth.
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36.
November 1951 Pro-government newspaper, Nue-stro Diario,.
showed close adherence to Communist line.
January 1952 According to the official radio, Indochina
is to be the next victim in the conflict
between the great powers. The broadcaster
defended the right of every state to be free
and condemned the "capitalist nations" for
holding on to their colonial possessions.
April 1952 The Guatemalan official radio publicized
preparations for the National Peace Assembly
to be held in Guatemala City in May 1952.
April 2, 1952 The official government newspaper, Diario
de Centro America, carried a headline entitled
"A Call for Peace to the People of America."
Based on a resolution at the Montevideo peace
conference, the call was for individual
signatures in favor of a "peace" pact among
the Big Five.
May 23-26, 1952 In the official government newspaper, Diario
d,e, Centro Amer ca, the National Peace Assembly
published resolutions denouncing the use of
bacteriological warfare by American troops in
Korea and condemning launching of aggressive
wars in Korea. They further condemned the
Inter-American Defense Treaty, the Atlantic
Treaty, and the Japanese Peace Conference.
June 24, 1952 Semi-official Nuestro Diario published the
text of a letter addressed to the American
Ambassador in Guatemala by 17 Communists
and pro-Communists calling for termination
of the "unjust and inhuman" war in Korea,
where the "invading armies" were massacring
defenseless Korean prisoners and using germ
warfare against the population.
The four Communists and fifteen other deputies
of the National Congress signed a "Declaration
of Solidarity with the Korean People."
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37.
July 12, 1952 The official government newspaper, Diario
de Centro America, published what purported
to be a statement by a Lt. John Quinn, USAF,
confessing participation In germ bomb attacks
against North Korea. Although an inconspicuous
note at the end identified the article as a
publication of the National Peace Committee,
it was set up to appear as a factual news story.
August 28, 1952 According to the independent press, the
August 28 issue of Octubre was published in
the government printing shop after being set up
by members of the linotypisbrsl union who at
the same time were carrying on an illegal
strike which had affected every press organ
in the city.
November 7-9, 1952
1953
January 1953
February 13, 1953
Pebruary 20-22, 1953
National Conference on Social Security, held
under thinly-veiled Communist auspices, received
support of the official press, the Guatemalan
Institute-of Social Security, and the Ministry
of Health.
Under the sponsorship of the Partisans of
Peace Committee, a bacteriological warfare
film was shown in a public school by a
government operator with government equipment.
Candidacy of Communist Jose Manuel Z_ortuny
as one of two avowed Communist candidates
for Congress received the ft .31 support of
Administration parties and the official press.
Official government newspaper Diario de
Centro America devoted half a page to an
article by Victor Manuel Gutierrez, Jorge Luis
Arriola, and others on the importance of the
National Youth Conference.
Conference in Defense of the Rights of Youth
held in Guatemala City in preparation for
March Vienna conference of World Federation
of Democratic Youth, supported by the official
government newspaper Diario de Centro America.
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UUTIMM"AL
38.
Majority of sessions held In a government
school building under auspices of the General
Confederation of Guatemalan Workers, the
National Confederation of Rural Workers of
Guatemala, and other Communist organizations.
Among those present and elected to a Presidium
were* Julio Estrada de la Hoz, President of
Congress; Jorge Luis Arriola, Minister of
Public Health; Victor Manuel GutiSrrez,
Secretary General of the General Confederation
of Guatemalan Workers; and Rafael Tischler,
Secretary General of the Syndicate of Educa-
tional Workers of Guatemala.
September 28, 1953 Diario del Puebl, organ of the Guatemalan
Revolutionary Party, edited by Director of
the Guatemalan Institute of Social Security
Communist Alfonso Solo rano, began publication.
October 1953 Guatemalan Labor (Communist) Party sponsored
program over Guatemala City's station,
Radio, International.
October 1953 The official gazette published a decree by
which the government made available $10,000
to the Communist-sponsored Second Continental
Congress of Democratic Lawyers.
December 16, 1953 President Arbenz admitted to U.S. Ambassador
that government advertising helped to support
Communist daily, Tribuna Popes.
January 28-31, 1954 The Guatemalan Government lent its support
to the Communist-controlled Second National
Congress of the General Confederation of
Guatemalan Workers in various ways: (1) Jaime
Diaz Rozzotto, pro-Communist Secretary General
of Presidency, sat on the Presidium at the
opening session; (2) All sessions of the
Congress, except the first, were held in
government property; (3) The proceedings of
the Confess were broadcast over the govern-
ment radio station and published in the
official and semi-official press; (4) The
Secretary of Propaganda of the Presidency
on January 28 devoted the government's radio
program, The National Hour, to an act of
homage to the Congress, and forced independent
radio stations to carry the same program.
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July 1948
April 1950
May 1951
39.
Foreign Communists' Visits to Guatemala
The Arevalo regime formulated plans for
entrance of 1,000 Spanish Republicans. The
entrance and operation of Spanish Republicans
in Guatemala have been a significant source
of Communist influence. Officials in charge
of immigration affairs are Communist-oriented.
Several Spanish Republicans, some of undoubted
Communist antecedents, have obtained employ-
ment in government either through intervention
of officials such as Enrique Muffoz Meany or
at personal request of Arevalo.
Vicente Lombardo Toledano held lengthy inter-
views with President Arevalo and Foreign
Minister Enrique Muffoz Meany.
Guatemalan authorities allowed Communist Chilean
poet, Pablo Neruda, just returned from a trip
to the USSR, to make a series of appearances
before Guatemalan audiences.
Vicente Lombardo Toledano, Secretary General
of Latin American Confederation of Workers,
and Louis Saillant, Secretary General of
World Federation of Trade Unions, attended
Guatemala City Conference of Latin American
Land and Air Transport Workers1 Unions.
June 1951 The well-known Chilean Communist, Cesar Codor
Urrutia, visited Guatemala.
March 1952 Bias Roca, Juan Marinello, and Salvador A irre,
leaders of Cuban Communist Party, visited
Guatemala.
December 11, 1952 to Dionisio Encina, Secretary General of Mexican
December 14, 1952 Communist Party, attended Second Congress
of Guatemalan Labor (Communist) Party.
October 9-27, 1953 Michael K. Samoilov, Commercial Attache of
Soviet Embassy in Mexico, visited Guatemala
and conferred with Jose Manuel I
Alfonso Soldrzano, and Ernesto Capuano del
Vecchio.
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Attitudes toward and Relations with International Communism
1946 Contact established between lesser Guatemalan
officials and labor leaders with Soviet
Embassy in Mexico.
1947 Communist Victor Manuel Guti4rrez represented
Guatemalan organized labor at Fourth Ordinary
Congress of Confederation of Mexican Workers*
September 1949 Communist Carlos Manuel Pellecer publicly
supported Mexico City American Continental
Congress for Peace.
November 7, 1950 Roberto Alvarado Fuentes, Secretary General
of Party of Revolutionary Action, sat on
speakers' platform at Communist celebration
of Soviet revolution.
November 7, 1950 Anniversary of the Russian Revolution
celebrated for the first time in Guatemala.
Huge success with representatives from
organized labor and pro-Administration Party
of Revolutionary Action, Popular Front of
Liberation, and Party of National Integrity
in attendance. Pro-Soviet speeches by
JOSS Manuel For tun , Victor Manuel Guti6rrez
and, Luis Cardoza Aragda.
November 20, 1950 Fortieth anniversary of Mexican Revolution
celebrated; speakers were largely pro-
Communists. Guatemalan Government represented
by Cabinet Ministers Rau9l Oseuueda and
Carlos Aldana Sandoval.
January 25, 1952 Cominform'a newspaper, "For a Lasting Peace,
For a People's Democracy", published in
Bucharest, summarized findings of Guatemalan
Communist Party Central Committee on short-
comings of newspaper Oot bre. This action
confirmed acceptance of Guatemalan Communist
Party by the international Communist movement
as the authorized Communist Party in Guatemala.
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---?- ----? 41.
October, 2, 1952
November 17, 1952
Guatemalan Communist Party sent message to
Soviet Nineteenth Party Congress: "Our
Party salutes the indestructible unity of
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
which is a guarantee of the successful
construction of a Communist society in your
homeland, a beacon throughout this world for
workers.. Inspired by your example, we will
intensify our struggle for the national
independence and happiness of our people."
Gita Sten, Propaganda Officer of the Polish
Legation in Mexico City, arrived in Guatemala
and was visited by Deputy Ernesto Marro ufn
Wyss and Elena Leiva de Holtz of the National
Peace Committee.
Guatemalan Labor Party leaders receiving flow
vf.literature from Moscow and headquarters
of various Soviet-controlled international
organizations.
Constant exchange of communications between
Vienna, WFTU headquarters, and Victor Manuel
Guti4rrez, Secretary General of General
Confederation of Guatemalan Workers.
Guatemala withdrew from ODECA, thus adopting
a course long advocated by Communists. The
reason given was the proposal of El Salvador
for considering Communist infiltration.
Qominform's newspaper, For a Lasting Peace,
For a People's Democracy", published article
by Jose Manuel ror tuny.
November 25, 1953 Your Administration parties, together with
principal labor and "mass" organizations,
issued a joint declaration against discussion
of Communism at Caracas.
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January 28-31, 1954 At the opening session of the Communist-
controlled Second National Congress of the
General Confederation of Guatemalan Workers,
Jose Luis Ramos, Communist member, read the
following telegram: "Moscow, USSR. The
Central Council of Soviet Trade Unions
fraternally greets the Congress of the Can-
federation of Workers of Guatemala. We
wish the Congress success in its work
for the ultimate improvement of the
conditions of life and labor of the workers
of Guatemala and for the strengthening of
friendship and peace among all peoples.
President of the Central Council of Soviet
Trade Unions, N. Shvernik."
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SUPPLEMENT
NO. 26- 54
NEWS
HIGHLIGHTS
Date JULY 21, 195 4
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From' Patrice Nueva [New Country
San Salvador, 28 January 1954
GUATEMALA AND COMMUNISM
What is happening in Guatemala is logically inexplicable. The government of Guate-
mala is perndtting, promoting,., and aiding Communism. According to Guatemalan constitutional
law Communism should not even be permitted. An article of the Guatemalan Magna Carta out-
laws Communism. However, the Communist Party is not only allowed to exist in the shadow of
a false democracy, but its leaders are permitted to preach their doctrine and are aided in
the work of propaganda., and Communists are given preference for public posts and in the
granting of State benefits.
The government of Guatemala denies that it is a Communist regime. It claims to be
maintaining a people's democracy and points to oppressive capitalist forces as the real
enemies of redemption of the people and as the agency dedicated to the infamy of slandering
the regime of Colonel Arbenz. But a long series of facts, which speak for themselves and
need no proof, reveal the subjugation of the Guatemalan government to the international Red
doctrine: the visits of Guatemalans to Russia, the support given to Gu atemalan and foreign
Communist leaders., the campaign of hatred fomented against the United States, which is
pictured in propaganda as the oppressor and the all-devouring country.
Today, the entire world stands at a crossroad. The last world war which aspired to
crush totalitarianism and to revive democratic doctrine became the progenitor of a totali-
tarian monsters the Red bear. The naive democracies did not see through the veil of
democracy put an by Russia to obtain Allied aid. Thus today, all mankind, illusioned by
war, defeated, though at first apparently triumphant, is facing two alternatives: one.,
represented by Russia, offers a false paradise of peace which hides a genuine hell of
slavery; the other, represented by the democratic nations, offers respect for human rights.
Recently a Guatemalan military man formerly in the service of the government of
Colonel Arbenz and now fleeing Guatemala publicly declared that President Arbenz is virtually
a captive of the Communist Party and that the Agrarian Law had not served,, as was alleged,
to solve the predicament of the peasant, who is living in misery, but rather to distribute
land -- cultivated land a.. to members of the Communist Party.
In response to criticisms of the Agrarian Law, friends of the Red regime of Guatemala
paint them as the reactionary cries of those who wish to keep the Guatemalan peasant in
slavery. But haw has that law been applied in Guatemala? Is it not true that the impulse
to plunder grew in some who had been dispossessed and that they., like an avalanche, seized
lands which represented years of sacrifice for the men who had cultivated them?
When it is desired to reform a country, when it is desired to cause it to progress,
one may not, without betraying that same country, foment hatred among the social classes and
subject oneself to an exotic doctrine in which the realities of the country do not find a
place,
Guatemala is now passing through a tragic hour: the land of the quetzal, the bird
which s mbolizes freedom, is now the land of a Red crow which desires to devour it. And
that t v 2000/0-?cOiAJR-"' O RA?(Y30 I&0(5tr8all
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Central America and for all of the Americas, which in this decisive hour have chosen the
pathway of freedom. Guatemala is off the track and we do not understand how those now in
command there fail to see the abyss which, with their own hands, they have opened at their
feet and fail to realize that they are playing a card which means death for the Republic.
Those who travel through Guatemala report that hatred and despair permeate the very
air which is breathed there, that many political figures are being persecuted, that one lives
under the threat or in the actual web of conspiracy, that the fields are being leveled by mul-
titudes goaded and deceived by the Red leaders, and that the red poison of Communism blemishes
the land in that region of Central America.
Declared anti-Communists are persecuted. University students have suffered torture
by the police. Embassies frequently receive the persecuted seeking asylum. Meanwhile it is
claimed that peace prevails, that peace is desired, that peace is being courted. Actually,
the seeds of tragedy are being sown with Red hands in Central America,
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From: La Macion [The Nation], Costa Rica, 14 February 1954
RED INFILTRATION IN GUATEMALA
Unsigned Article
If this fact should be confirmed we shall deplore it for the sake of Guatemala,
which is worthy of a better fate, and for the sake of all the neighboring nations which will
be threatened with contamination, says an, editorial in the authoritative Mexican daily
EXCELSIOR, commenting on the situation in Guatemala.
EXCELSIOR, the most important Mexican daily, last week published the following
editorial commen t on the Guatemalan situation.
THE ENIGMA OF GUATEMALA
The Guatemalan government's charge that a conspiracy is being directed against it
with the aid of four American republics has elicited varied reactions. The charge has been
noted with distrust because it seems improbable that such an unusual interventionist alli-
ance would arise on our continent. In the United States, on the other hand, importance has
been attached to it and it is even interpreted as a crude act of sabotage, probably in-
spired by Russia, against the coming Interamerican Conference at Caracas. The Guatemalan
authorities are obviously endeavoring to lend their declaration every appearance of se-
riousness and it did not take a stroke of genius on their part to arrest two individuals
accused of taking part in the dark conspiracy.
With this scandalous event a much debated question has again returned to the dis-
cussion form: is Guatemala an outpost of communism in America? Every time this acousa"
tion was made the Guatemalan government hastened to deny it, asserting that the social re'.
forms which it is putting into effect are certainly bold and advanced, but that they are
in no way influenced by Marxist ideas. Nevertheless, those who have been in a position to
inform themselves on the situation which prevails in the neighboring country to the south
assure us that there are clear manifestations of communism -- at least on the part of some
persons connected with the. government -- and that the agrarian legislation of Guatemala is
a true copy of Soviet collectivism, that the workers are being urged to destroy private
property, that hatred of capital is a slogan emanating from official circles, and that even
in the violent religious persecution a concerted plan with clear communist overtones can
be detected.
Judging the matter calmly, it is evident that Red infiltration is in fact saturat-
ing this sister nation; the process of infiltration began as soon as Oumanskiy had been
installed in Mexico as ambassador of Russia and in effect established a powerful agency
of Red expansion which he managed with remarkable skill, It is necessary to recall the
circumstances under which he lost his life. The airplane carrying the restless emissary
and a group of select collaborators crashed on its way to Central America, which had un