No. UO
CONTACT REPORT
Date* t Placet Safe House "A"
Persons Present! Bob FORD and
Subject* Discussion of JUUTA Budget,. with c Discussion took placo on the evening of
Discussioni
discussed tho outline or estimate of the RUFUSn rather lengthy detail with C II gave aamount of pre-bulld-upot into thewhich he has figured for us, country by country. Aamount of this build-up was regarding thethe reasons for this budget. ave alreadydetail to members of the GROUP in Miami this information,attempt to 'Tovorall reaction to the ideabudget.
i*icated to me on several occasions during theof the budget that, above all, he wished to haveand true picture of the expenses which wore beingby the JUNTA In the field. He stated that he wished tohonasY budget, one which was correct in as much as It could He saiC that ho, himself, would have no dealingwho would not prepare an honest budget. He said at-in "ths'cohyersation,ad explained to him thatsome doubt why RUFUS, after only such a. short period oftakenontrary action which could not beus, that he had been engaged in the work of freeingthe Communists for many years, and that If, under thothe GROUP felt that RUFUS was not the man to do thewas not capable of performing the Job, he, himself, wasprimarilyree Guatemala, and that thinking alonshe would then endeavor to think ahead and obtain somecone thought as to who. then, could be used to lead thoelements against the incumbent government.
discussed withC ollowing sequence* thebudget which, lor the cost part, was not changed atPropaganda budget which had some changes, but which, forpart, was the same as ROYUS* figures;iscussedbudget in which there woro many discrepancies betweenwhich had been set forth or requested by RUFUS, andwhich had been deemed feasible by the GROUP, accordingdiscussions with RUFUS as of two weeks ago.
d--In discussing the military ^was, for the most art, agreeable to the changes which had beenJi_
Contact Report No. kO
2
him. by DON RICARDO, but which would be necessary fox LT be frilly cognizant of,hat he. In representing ROFDoGROUT, would be able to approve the budget. Tvo Itemsdrew our attention In the military budget. nder Guatemala, which called for support andof what we considered to be military installations or This item was for the amount. In theopinion, r as advised, this amount couldmorend even then it was considered to begenerous sum.Q _Jwas asked how and in whatthis item could be suoaenlyapidly increased. CT that perhaps there hadisunderstanding.;he considered this support and organization'snotilitary expenditure but actually a He said that such groups as CEUA, PUA, TheWorkers' group, the market women, tho salary of cl " salary of, an Informant in Quesalten-
ango, the payment of various people who were informants,for the organization in Tiquisate, tho payment ofpropaganda group In Quesaltenango, all were part of thiswas earmarked for Guatemala. sked him in whatcould this money possibly have been s'pent forin the month of February, and why was not someof this. He had no ready reply for this and said thatdiscussions which had taken place over the militaryhe had not been too attentive toward them,JUAN JOSE and DON RICARDO had discussed the matterand he assumed that all items in the military fieldtaken care of. Delving into this expenditure, hethatofC TJ the CEUA individual, actu-
ally was the paymaster for this large amount of money.
as the current organization is set forth, is under RUFUS' controx, thus ue have the pictura that RUFUS isolitical leader who actually should be under C ontrol, who is thopolitical leader of tho JUNTA. c "Jadmitted the validity of my argument and advised that he wouldetter in the near future to make certain that these organizations be completely identified and their organization and activities be fullyto him.
b. The next military expenditure item wasj Nicaragua, which calledoving and feedingen at tho nominal cost0 American dollars. r what possible reason this amount would be set forth, tated that this amount had hit the GROUP HQ like an atomic bomb, and it was felt bythat this was an unjustified and very calloused effort toarge amount of money without its being accounteddvised him that our representatives of the JUNTA were business men who were used to having big business operations, but they did not appreciate nor would they look with favor, nor would they countenance in the future any chance or any effort on the part of anybody connected with the JUNTA to make an unwarranted effort to
Contact Report Ho.3.
obtain funds. as advised that ashort tineweeks to beRUFUS was in Miami, there wasno mention made of this expense, by either himselfRICARDO, in all the discussions which took placemilitary activities during the months to come. GROUP was looking on this expenditureeryand would be very happy to know ifany ex-
planation for it,said he had nu expxanation for it
and that certainly he, in nis communication to RUFUS, would ask for an explanation of this expenditure.
c. The above items were discussed as described inenorandum which had been prepared by RICARDO waspoint by pointto avoid needless detaildiscussion of his reaction of each point is nowin ills report,
k. omplained that the estimate which RUFUS had forwarded to him actually had been prepared ineneral manner that he had no method of ascertaining exactly, what these expenditures were for, and that he also was requesting that RUFUS sendore detailed accounting of the expenses, so that he could beetter position to represent the GROUP.
Original document.
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