EMBASSY LIAISON ON COMMUNIST AFFAIRS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-00915R000500020014-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 5, 2000
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: April 17, 1956
• Content Type: AIRPOUCH

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Foreign Service Despatch #594
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Embassy Liaison on Communist Affairs
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The Embassy liaison officer met with Mr. L EMUS,, his C .aatemala cou.nterparte
as o it opens.
pprova3 or Release 200 Q a ;,0:14 tQg7$-00915R0005 if11 014-9
state De . ec lass i ice ion ins ruc ions on me
on April 10 and April 13.
At the aforementioned meetings the Embassy liaison officer delivered the two
remaining portions of the Operational Plan of International Comammism in Latin
American to Mr. LEMT . Mr* LEWIS stated at the meeting on April 13 that he had
read the first and second sections of the paper with interest and that he had
distributed them to selected members of the Direccion. General de Seguridad Naci'
Tonal for study. He commented,, however, that he had found the paper a bit too
general to be completely useful. He suggested that he would appreciate more
specific information re Conamud,st technic uee, 1.*. j, Soviet operations in the
Hemisphere. The Embassy' liaison officer advised Mr. LEP US that he did not have
that sort of information at. his disposal but he was able to satisfy the request
by making available to Mr. LEWIS a copy of E. H. Cockridge e s book entitled.. The
Not That Covers The World. The enthusiasm with which Mr. LEWIS accepted the
as leads the undersigned to believe that liaison officers may find it useful
to make available unclassified literature of this nature to their counterparts.
It serves two purposesae
1. It facilitates establishing rapport with one's counterparts, and
2. it serves as it did in Mr. LEMUS' case, as a means of satisfying
requests which are difficult to comply with definitively.
Since the initial meeting,. Mr. LEMUS had demonstrated his desire to cooper-
ate on the Communist problem. Although quite understandably he has not pro-
vided intimate details of his government's operations against the Commnanists,
he has given the Embassy liaison officer his analysis of the a siatema].an Govern-
ment es estimate of the capability of the Communist internal organization.
Briefly, ,Mr. LEMUS has stated that the Communists do not represent a threat to
stability, but that they have some potential in the propaganda field. He cited
as an example the fact that the Partido Guatemalteco de Trabajo is planning a
propaganda offensive for the period April 20 through Mw 3. Mr. LEKUS indi-
cated that although his government does not know the location of the Communist
printing equipment,p it is not concerned and will squelch the offensive as soon
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A recent 4uateomalan press release stated that seventeen people incarcera
on charges of Corsmuzist activity by the now defunct Committee for Defense Altai t
CQmettun would soon be reJLeased from prison. The Embassy liaison officer
queried M8r. LEMUS during their April 10 meeting re the accuracy of this article.
Mr. LEMUS informed the liaison officer that the government had twenty-four
people in prison, not seventeen, and that they were not being released in a
"carts blanche" maimer as had been published. He indicated that the prisoners'
cases were being studied individually, and would be acted upon in the near fu-
ture. The liaison officer then stated to Mr. LEWIS that he was pleased to hear
this because the Embassy had noticed that the Guatemalan Government had not yet
sentenced any Comnaniate under the old Decree 59 or the new constitution. Mr.
LEWIS affirmed that there had been no prosecutions,, stating that he had been re-
luctant to take cases into court because it would compromise his sources of
information. The liaison officer agreed with this, but suggested that it might
be useful to assume that risk in order to secure the conviction of at least one
major Commi.et since such a conviction would, in his best judgment, do much to
discourage the Comm mist tnderground. Mr. LEKUS agreed with this, stating that
he shared the liaison officer's view. He then referred to the case of ALVARADO
Monson, former Secretary General of the Partido Guatemalteco de Trabajo,p who was
detained under Decree 59 for six months and then expelled from the country on
pabruary 29. He said that he had recently learned that ALVARADO Monson planned
to return to Guatemala clandestinely the end of April and take over as Secretary-
General of the Partido Guatemalteco de Trabajo from SILVA donama, its present
chief. The liaison officer queried Mr. LEWIS concerning the wheregbouts of
SILVA Jonama and why he was still at large. Mr. LEWIS replied that JONAM lived
in Guatemala. City but that his maw friends, non-Communist as well as Communist,
had provided him with refuge, and that various police and investigative agencies
had been unable to apprehend him to date.
During the April 13 meeting the Embassy liaison officer discussed the Fi.ret
American Congress for Civil Rights with Mr. LEWIS (see CL-f791 of April 5, 1956).
Mr. LEMUS said that he had heard of it, indicating that the Guatemalan Pnbasay
in Chile had provided the information. He had no information other than that
contained in CA-7791, however.
The liaison program vas been in existence approximately one month. It is
developing satisfactorily, and all indications are that it will improve with
time. Information of a genera). nature has been exchanged on a regular basis
and Mr. LEM shows an increasing inclination to discuss his problems with the
Enbaa y .liaison officer. It is essential, however, that information be made
available by the Department on a continuous basis to ensure success of the pro-
gram, because any liaison program to be successful over a protracted period of
time must provide for a tuna-+a exchange of information.
Jacob D. Esterlim
Second Secretary of Embassy
Approved For .40ase 2000/08/27: CIA-RDP78- 15R000500020014-9