REPORT RE GUATEMALA 1954 COUP

Created: 6/21/1954

OCR scan of the original document, errors are possible

Roi claim that Liberation forees are aorelr "forolKn invaders" without popular support.

ildoaprpad disaffection In Mr Force. Americanthat Lt. Col. Luis URRUTIA, aotivo Guatemalan Air Foroo oftook asylum la the Salvadorany, Guatemala City, Junestatedf the Air Foroo officers would leaveours if they were able; they had disouased this amongwere in full agroorcct. (ORPUTJA, two other offioors andwere about to flee when strafing of the airfieldplaneCOAT CITT9.

Reportopal men supportroeo at Chanpona.

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OS offiolale loomedeliable aouroe that on the night ef JuneJose ARZABO Altandros, ohlef of the Propaganda Offioe ofAgrarian Dopartaont,elegram from Bananera tolabor leaders warningondurans were in Chaapona"/sidingiles from the Honduran border, not shown on moat

sfttmmm*, ocal men were back of thea,

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RBi CP Type "Helen of Terror" in OualonaU

According to Ouat City$n, it is stated that "Tcsterday naming (lLi June,mor Lean who lives on outskirts of town was shown three bullet-riddlod bodies lyingide alloy noar his house. When police arrivpd two hours later, each corpse was clutching pistol which had not been thero bofore. Identities of deceased unknown but they are presumed oictina of povornnont terror."

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Pe t bo olalm MSWOflA house waa BOMIvin

supersedes the Item submitted yesterday as

nder thes aaended, the item should reads

Falao olalB by Ouateaala offiolal radio (TJfJ. Tho Guatemalan official radio falsoly claimedon Juneianos failed to hit with boobs tho Guordia do Honor headquarters but hit "the home of Col, Hvidosa and the home of his

American observers on the soene reported that Mondoza's home was not hit. And they report that eye-witnos ses among thota-be that the house of Mtmdosa'a mother nas openly aot on fire by Enrique Titer! and other rombera of the Guardia civil.

Sourweei GUAT CITT0 hours of .

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Hot Liberation forooa"authentically

RADIO LIRKRACTCS broadcast0 OHTi

"The Exocutdve Committee of tbe great liberating movement makes known to tho Army and tho people of Guatenala tho

Tho report that tho liberating army ii formed of mercenaryand that it ia financed by monopolies or foreign governments, ia otmpletely falite and tendentious'. Th categorically doolaro that our forces are authentically Guatemalan, that tho materials and resources hare been acquired by patriotio circles that areer cent Guatemalans, and we aro determined to expel forever froa our soil tho real Invaders and Soviet nereenarios who unlawfully hold publlo ;

f-lhllShiEi

REI BOMBINGS

)

1- Embassy observers' saw no bombs. Pourifpy0

ofhiti Cm June5 local tlx* Embassy personnel sawi7's busr Guatemala Oityeat. They dropped no bombs whatever. They merely tossed out leaflets. They fired four bursts merely into the air. merely readying their guns aa precautionary measure?).

On June5lane passed over Guatemala City. Again, there were no _boabs. The* city waa calm and people were on tha streets as usual. Only the stores were closed.

Absurd claim by Ouatemala official radio (TGW). The Guatemalan official radio falsely claimed that on Junelanes failed to hit thee Honor headquarters but hit "the home of Col. Kendota and the hone of his mother."

not hit; (this the claim that it was hit "merely* reflects.nger at Mendoza's Joining the liberation forces). Further, although one house which waa burning may perhaps hare been the house of Mendoza's mother, as any passerby could verify, it had not been hit by any boob. This house afire waa one block fron the Escuela Politecnica and near the home of Col. Carlos Enrique Dlai. (Suggestion! etaliation measure, Arbena forces from tha Escuela Politecnica

nay have set fire to the house of Mendoza's mother).

REi There HASP-typo ralgn of torror In Guatemala.

Arbent said In hia Junoroadcasti There la no reign of terror in

at US officials In Guatemala City hare reported that reliable witnesses bare, for example. Been tho body. In the city morgue, of Gabrielel Rosal, an anti-Communist lawyer; he was mutilated and charred andullet through the center of his forehead.

3. And US officials havo reported that Perfectorother-ln-liu of CASTILLO Armas, was arrested by the Guardia Civil, shot, andruck was run over his body,Government then announcing that hohit-and-run victim". eteran anti-Communist, had been arrested2 and under threat of tortureonfession, which ho later repudiated, to having actedourier for CASTILLO Armas).

i. And US officials havo reported that KAUFMAN, an active antl-Coremmlst, was arrested by the Guardia civil and tortured to death, his feet being completelyarbonised").

ccording to an Associated Freas story from Tegucigalpa,ol. Rodolfo MEKDGZA, Guateaalan Air Force officer who fled theew days before, told reportersreign of terror" gripped tho country and that atersona were in jail. (His brother, Miguel Angel MEHDOZA, forner Guatemalan Under-secretary of Defense, toJd reporters!hink therereat division in the Artsym sure that when the moment cones, moat of then will take the coarse for whichwe are fighting.")

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Rei leading supporter ofdmits Kremlin guidance. From TXJ AP wlrai

Hew Yorkof Guatemala'a top labor leaders, speaking In theew days ago, swore flatly (allegiance) to Moscow*

A Moscow newspaper which arrived here today published the textpeech made by the Secretary of the Guatemalan General Confederation of Labor, verglllo GUERRA, whose organization Is one of the biggest supporters of embattled leftist president Jacobo ARBENZ Guzman, In his speech OUERHA made plain that he and his labor movement look to the Soviet Union for guidance.

GUERRA arrived in Moscow in early June, to attend the Soviet trade union conference. He spoke Junen the Kremlin to this assembly and his speech was published in the Moscow paper Trud

Mi Falsity of Guatemalan claim that thoy have been

Thotate Department statement, lssaed

the request of Forei pi Minister Toriello, ambassador Peurlfoy together with the French Minister and the British charge called at the Kational palace last night. The Foreign Minister asked them to inform their Governments that Guatemala City had been attacked by two aircraft which hadouse near the center of town and atrafed tbe National

Toriello'a statementouse had been bombed wae false* As indicated on an attached sheet, OS officials In Ouatemala City who witnessed planes over the city on Junendeported that there were no bombs.

ocument addressed to the Chairman of the OH Security Council (which was broadcast by the Guatemala official radio, Foreign Mlniater Toriello stated thati

morning airplanes from Honduras and Nicaragua attacked the country dropping bombshere were no boobs droppedJ on fuel deposits in tha Port of San Jose In the city of Retalnuleu. Today,0 hours, American-made airplanes ofi? type, coming from those two countries, attacked Guatemala City, machine-gunning Government buildings, private homes, and bombing military bases. Those sane airplanes later attacked the military base of San Jose

ReI .

LTBERACION, monitored on Juney the official DS

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) broadcaot/ataaant an interview with the head of the Liberation Air Force, Col. Rodolfo KENDCZA, who said the planes that flew over Guatemala City carried no bombs and only fired their guns into the clouds* Mendosa said the tiro planes were

Original document.

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