DISCUSSION OF POLITICAL MATTERS WITH (DELETED)

Created: 2/10/1954

OCR scan of the original document, errors are possible

CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM

RELEASE AS

February

"A"

PERSONS PRSSaiTi

OOVER QSEOi Roberto Ford

SUBJECT! Mediation of Political Hattaxs with C_ 3

DISCUSaiQCl

1. dvised c lithetery abort tlaa tha Group wouldory eooolee report on hla political platfornj vb would needxplained, to helpour future propaganda actlrttlesestated for him), o potId tba position of en Individualroup of newspapermen vbo could withinr IS minutes briofly outline hla political prograa. He eald that he would be rery happy to do so and lnEediately started to prepare this roportj aftern thla cotter for one day, he said that he wasnised. In addition to writing tha general aid that he was attempting whan possible to puteparata paper tbe speclflo steps of his prograa which whould fall undar each general beading| thla, he eald, would be.extremely Dsoaasary in order to aake our propaganda campaign mora effective*

2. We do tb loped the dlsausslon of hovC ould lnplenent this political pro gran, dlaoueeing tha great difficult lae of reorienting oertaiii politioal trends in his country. At thloha following obserratioai "If the Grots; gives ne freedom orIto ly aaaured hla that there would be no lt.torferenoe by tbe Group In Guatemalan adainletratlve affairs one hla Junta In powar. He continued, "wall. If that is true, and If Bufus proTides ae with tbe sufficient military aeourlty which he haa Indicated,ill provide hlaufficient strong administration/ Hs added, "lou willhat we will aake this work."

J. He Indicated eery forcibly that ho himself would take tbe responsibility for administering tba politioal end econoadc prograa. lie implied RUFUS would be relegated to the bo re or leas eeoondary position ofilitary club ln the background in order that C ould aohiove the administrative and political alas with which he has stated he will comply.

if be had thought about the matter of resolving the need to obtain nlutery security while at the sane timeertaln balance within the amy to enable hla to secure liberty of action. He said, "Ahavo not forgotten tbat. ope that if plans progress lt will be possible to have the army noutrailaedertain form eo that certain olemonte will not beought to wreck the programxpect will be necessary to carry out." He Indicated again that hio aonplete

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dependence on full cooperation with RUFUS and tho maintenancealance among the various army elements would evolveuccessful dual military-political operation for hia new government.

In this discussion d urther indicated clearly that with circumstances as they are tooay^ government of and by the people of Guatemala would be virtually impossible, that as bo saw it his new government had certain long range targets and certain short range targets. He implied that absolutely free elections and other such lofty principles as greatly expanded educational facilities and certain technical advances would certainly bo the long range type of planning. Specifically, tho agrarian reform issue would fall into this category.

Speaking on the agrarian reform issue, C ndicated that he hoped to achieve an equitable set-up where everc. sked him at this point what would bs his position with regard to the demands of United Fruit and how ho would handle their obvious claims for repaymont of the land which had been taken from thorn. While there was no direct statement on this point by C- he inforence was that that which had already been taken from Urn tea rruit would be almost impossible to return and his solution would bo the possibility of opening up to thorn new tracks of land and making available other land enterprises which had heretofore been denied them. The possibility of offering United Fruit other undeveloped lands for their technical exploitation would constitute C eply to the demands of United Fruit for retribution or repayment for lands taken from toes.

was advised that immediately upon his return from his homo avo prepared forroup of ideoas of awhich could be very closely dovetailed in with some of tbewhich he has espoused. tated that while tbo ideams whichgive me would be carefully considered, they would not necessarilyimmediately into any propaganda programs. lso mentioned to

C 3bbat he could use somo of theso propaganda Ideas in radio broadcast programs which iro could cutnd wI,Jch do on an anonymous basis. He agreed wholeheartedly that such programs, based on the specific points of propaganda upon which both the Junta and the Group were in agreement, could be done upon his return from his lioma^.

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Original document.

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