814.00/356a: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Guatemala ( McMillin )
18. Department has received information that the following persons and many others, leading citizens of Guatemala, have been [Page 723] imprisoned for participation in organization of new political party in Guatemala:
[Here follows list of 23 names.]
You are requested to see President Estrada without delay, informing him that this Government assumes he fully realizes the unfortunate impression which would be created throughout the American Continent by any action designed to supress normal political activities in any American republic.
For your information. Your dispatches indicate that members of the Unionist Party have called at the Legation from time to time to protest against the imprisonment of their leaders. In the course of any conversation that you may have with them you may take occasion to mention incidently to them the deep interest of the United States in the orderly progress of Guatemala and that any attempts on their part to overthrow by violence existing constitutional order would create a most unfavorable impression in the United States.