a/-
2CC3
CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM
hiaa
central intelligence agency official routing slip
r. ^
tl K
i
w.d.
Lewis had as guests Julius N. Cahn of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff and Senator Bourke Hickenlooper, both of whom had reca been ln Guatemala. Mr. Hurley, assistant to Mr. Lewis, set the stago by stating that Guatemala is the sixe of Tennesses, and then gave some of the products, principally coffee. Tourists were once but are not now, it washriving business. h> pointed out that tho political structure Is Comunist-controlled, but not known as the Communist Party.
Mr.oung man,ery effective speaker. He said he had just returned from Guatemala, which is six hours by air from New Orleans and two hours by air from Panama. He told of the eelxure of property by tba government and declared that the independence of the Judiciary has disappeared He sRld religion is rapidly disappearing and there are onlyriests Jn the country and no more are wanted. Ha referred to the agrarian so-called reform, and the so-called cultural reform under Communist leadership and said the press is strangled andE of the inhabitants areHe str-ssedew International airline travels from Guatemala to Montreal, Canada, and decs not touch down in the United States.
Senator Hickenlooper said he was just back andthe United States had no fearilitpry danger from Guatemala but that the country could furnish bases for guerrilln operations in South America. The presentha said, result from laxness in past administrations for several ytais. Over two years ago, he declared, our State Department refused to come lo grips with the problem then presented. There areommunists in the country, he said, and the solution would appear to be in the education of the people. An uprising by tha Guatemalan people against the new type of servitude^ under the Communists, who are usurpers of the government, would some day occur, he hoped.
Mr. Lewis concluded th* presentation with the statement that, by refusing to accept Guatemalan coffee, the United States could cause the fall of the present Guatemalan government.
Original document.
Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: