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CLASSIFICATION
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DATE:
DJFOi Chief, J
. Attached heretoeport prepared by Graham L, Page.
Attachment! one report
CEB/ogl' Diotributiont
sbghh^^ccess RIBiT
scheduled meeting took place between ESQUIRE and Jun tho7 June. Attached please find tho written brriafs which tormed the basis
of tha exchange of views that took place.
reported that tho Council of Rational Defense had callod uponostensibly to thnnk him for the delivery of new arms, actually toof thla opportunity to tell the Prosldent that the Army ia solidly
and to suggest to him that he get rid of the commmlota In thehe President In his reply eflsantially repeated tho arguments aS contained in his March address, wdmlnanting in the statement that democracy in Ouatecala would be finished if theare ousted. However,oncession to the Arsy, the President declared his willingness to answer questions suhnittod in writing by Arsy officersseting to be called aome Una this week at General Staff headquarters. Bie Army is in effect asking the Prosldenthange oft front.
FIELD CWKSTr Ja member'of "the Council of satiooal Defense.this information fro*neater.
greatly improssed by what he learned and by the sentiments expressedocial gottogother in the Military Casino whichwwm place in the nightune and which was attended by many of the ranking officers of the ^temalan Army. Tho general impression was one of considerable dissatisfaction with the "state of the nation".
Overheard byColonel Alfonso^DARTE, stotionod at tho Aurora Baao, that if onlylatoon bo would clean out the communists. Colonel Rub
aH^rales Dardon expressed similare is the Chief of Armyn tho group were Colonels Marco AntonicTOrto, President of the Military Casino and director of the School of Appliances, Jolic*fatillon, chief engineer of tho Army, and Rafael tfecrt aga who works at the Defense Ministry las of social security matters. They all expressed the opinion that by contnoous insistence the Army would be able to bringhange la the President's poll ay.
ioendado Pernsndmsy sdvisorr <vtmMi to the Defense Ministry,interest" ir-trlone. The Amy paymaster. Colonel
ill n Saturday,h.
iah you were the
7-that latent ontt-ooranunist feeling is definitely coming to
the surface. Each officer is beginning to think and worry about how to resolve tho problem. C ets tho impression that they aro all striving to tako up position. (ESQOIRE's intorprotationi They aro testing the groundiew to joining tho winning team}.
ol SWLftl' prestige has fallenesult of recent developments. ColonolDardon talkos about him asp till recently hoan. "Be has that Prussian look* is serious minded and has aof personal eharm. butealise that he is Just anotheris givingwide berth, oven avoiding maeting up with him in chun
J checked smim^independent sources regarding theofuns who all denied knowledge ofove.olonel C3 (the latter, according toJ-uula not ay xo focu.ingle alrcrRft buu. flier* were onlyn uaohlnaback to Ubloo's days.
FIELD
In spite of this formidable array of subsourcos, their verdict should notao final.s obviously contradicting himself (see last ho re may not know that tho latest arms shipment is allogeu toAA guns of varying caliber (see SWALLOW
whether the Doited States havve initiated some kindoi -eoonoaloe bad heard about United Statestheir local agencies. He also notioed that no Aaerloanupecent IKFOP coffeesjuotod ColonelCardan as stating*"If they cutasoline, they will nn us*.
U, Colonel DC ARTE, who in his young days was an aide to one ofGeneralfter expressing bis opposition to the Issueto campesinoa:in-the vary strongest terms, added as anthey give us tho order, we snail have tohat
the President in an emergency will order tho arming of the campealnoa.
According to Colonel Hector Modina tho arms are without exception of German manufacture. Ihe canons, according to MEDINA, are hand-made (sio) and parte are not interchangeable. Thousands of mines csme in. "What in God's name are wo supposed to do withMEDINA).
onaidorn the recent dropping of leaflets by sn unidentified plane "an important faotor in engendering ths present climate ofe lacants that there has obviouslyessation of these activities. He taction ed that American destroyers are supppssed to be patrolling thenow why this fact is not
he break betweennd C J and between SKUJIto be final. Colonel GORDILLA triad to enlistto
patp matters bo two onnd
Colonel Agustlaj^Aldana is anxious torivate tall: viti I J
During thin week the questioning of the President by Army officers will start, f xpressed that hopes "that something would happen" before the questioning starts. ESQUIRE held out no hopes.
ompletely agrees that It would to completely futile to talk tond SMILAX at this Use.
wbothor FOR TUNY had in faot loft for Moscow. His car was frequently seen in front ARBENZ' house. FOR TUNY Js alleged to have gone to Moscow, ntierra Porgos to Mexico, Virgilio Guerra to tho USSR. Why this middon exodus, L ould like to know?
Colonel SOTO* complained to"IhagUyllS^tfffiatlon. My family and my fraenda keep asking no what aro you follows thinking about, what are you planning to do about the situation'1.
ointed out that "the complete lack of any activity is very bad fore woui.'f us to keep up constant and growing activity, not rash but systemat; Even the mere threat of economic sanctions would be useful.
L lbelloves that Castillo Plores was summoned before the Defense Council aim called on the carpet for his circular to peasant groups.
original statement about Army resistance to the arming of campesinos only holds good to the point where the issue of obedience to the ordersuperior officer becomes acute. There has boon no change in the army's basic attitude. However, the feeling is that tho Army would obey an order from the President and hand out the arms. It would ba next to Impossible to use tho oanipeainos as auxiliary troops, due to lack of discipline and of
a corrand structure.
obilisation of the campsinos wouldArmy High Command ond tho officers' corpshole more susceptible to defection approaches.
here can bo no ouch thingobilization of theifqy will be oailed out at the last moment and only under conditions ofmergency. It is of the utmost importance that our propaganda stress that this possibility exists end tho seriousness of the consequences this would entail. J, onsiders Castillo Floras pamphlet an incitement to murder. He visualizes.following chain ofheyarning system set up. When the signal goes up, there will be mass and individual murder all over the countrysidelsorgansied sort of way. If, on the otherhere Is
KSf& ^deployment of osapeslnpsore or less orderly fashion, the Army will have no trouble in polishing them off.
The Army can bo depended upon to quell local wildcat uprising.
About the effectiveness of aircraft in the dispersal of campesinos, he is wondering- It mayeterrent effect. But more important Is the disruption of the railroad system. And by all moans, civilians in communities such as Esquin tla should be
again stressed that the success of the operation depondsvupon getting the Army on our side- This. In his opinion, can be accomplished thru interception nf command, which at the curciai faIht. will be exercised to*
a rtu t 3jrn the medium of SAMUC eels certain of SAMDC 2's compliance and xabonmcbanci subservience, bocauso of his reading fcharacter.
he success of bis -plan hinges ssodQjbdQpCexclusively unpenABBEHSr and Colonel DIAZ. By way of illustrating hie concept ,
cited Ms experiences during the ARANA uprising. After ARAM had beenArmy split upro- and aoti-ARANA faction, the- former beingwith many ranking officers as active sympathizers. However,'moment, the command was firmly in the hands of AfiBENZ who thehatsrtfinister of Defense and Chief of the Armed Forces. Becauseout -rem him, the habit of obedience prevailed and the uprisingpoint is that we shall have toonstellation
wresting effective power from ARBENZ and DIAZ, which automatically would novoosition of command power which it would bo difficult to challenge.
or the first time since his talks with PAGE, brought up the
question ol' CALLIGERIS, What is the situation gotng to be In regard to him?
1 "'" Ii hn nnnr.ttnt of Jtrnr unit
personally, feel that It would behe eonoept of Amy unity which underlies our planning, were he be allowed to cone in here. Whether you wish to believe it or not, there aro hoed very important effioer in the higher ranks who are actively hostile tonder these circumstances it is obvious that the injection of /CALLI&ntIS/ would disrup the kind ofave been outlining to you".
Casting his mind into the distant future,that Guatanala is In desperate need of constitutional reform.should be granted only to people who can readwrite. All Guatemalan dicatators, from ubioo to Arbenz, have xa maintained themselves in power through the votes of
After theill tary trinavarate, composed of sXEXBTJ s "blister of Gobernaoion,as Minister of Defense -ands Chief of the Araed Forcesuoxa poweriniamonthsarl mm of two years.ould command himself, being oontrolleahls and utiUzeablo. Thytriumverste would have two chief advisors! Ldo Jusn^fberra
and Lie RafeoJ^flordillo
questioning the rols of /CAJXIQStlS/ ,outoonsejos request for specific plans could not easily be ooapliedas long as he was completely in the dark regarding the role whichassigned to civilian elements participating in the uprising.
FIELD COMMENT!
This report had to be rushed through in order to meet tbe poudh deadline. KSQUIEE's next aosting with I jU take placeune. Onune ESQUIRE is scheduled to go to the united Statoe. He expects to get back to Guatemala not later thanune.
Although ESQUIRE did not state this in so mmv words, he obviously hasave been runningoperation off tho top of ay
hoad and the at tho "consejo's"bservations and requestsInformation actually originated with me. Be particularlywhetherfune brief In fact reflected the oonsejo'sI assured him that this wasthe case,ad committederror of reading to hia_extractsecent "letter of(from Lincoln, from vhlcb-rightly'or wrongly-ho drew thethat my superiors, wore obviously oomplotely at sea. Theour sponsoringh* one^iand CALLIGERIS and on the other hand wooingCommand via 3oas not escapedxplained to hia thatis anxious toecond string to its bow. Furthermorehas not been given up entirely that at some future juncture it mayto.phaso together bothaaured him that the consojocontinuous thought to thia problem.ointed out to him Atas an invaluable source of Intelligence. ESQUIRE in turnssumed that thewas fully aware of tho fact that he andin fact conspiring against then fact that thoy wereasked to enter into an activo conspiracy. He asked for some assurancethat this was not Just an academic past time, but ttmt the "oonsejo"serious thought to the alternative posod byhis associates.
I assured ESQUIRE that the main purpose of my trip to tho united States van to . learn what ia on the consojo'oid not try to de^udo ESQUIRE as te the extant of my lgnorsnco of the currant state of our of fjCL&ft
glpege
Original document.
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