717.00/12–1252
Memorandum by the Director of Central Intelligence (Smith) to the Under Secretary of State (Bruce)
top secret
Washington, 12 December
1952.
Subject:
- Central America—Guatemala
- 1.
- The following recent reports concerning the central American
situation are submitted for your information and consideration. The
sources of these reports have proved reliable before and they
conform to the pattern established by others sources. However some
of the information cannot, for obvious reasons, be checked
satisfactorily.
- a.
- The Guatemalan Government has recently stepped-up
substantially its support of Communist and anti-American
activities in other Central American countries as follows:
Honduras
It is reliably reported that in northern Honduras there are more than 40 Communist cells in existence, organized under Guatemalan sponsorship.
Costa Rica
In September 1952 the Guatemalan Government gave Presidential Candidate Figueres of Costa Rica $300,000 cash, according to the same informant.
- b.
- The Guatemalan Government has been purchasing arms which are not going to the Guatemalan army but which it is believed are being distributed to the secret forces described below.
- c.
- Deputies to the Guatemalan National Congress are to be elected 16–18 January. Indications are that communists will dominate the Congress after the elections because of their infiltration of all legal political parties. The new Deputies who take office in March will make appointments to all judgeships in the Supreme and lower courts of the country.
- d.
- The principal revolutionary group has been building its organization since March 1952. We are informed that this group has decided to strike not later than 1 February 1953 with whatever means they have at their disposal. They are convinced that if the government of [Page 1056] Guatemala succeeds in its present plan to control both Congress and the courts the chances of eventually overthrowing that government will be very considerably reduced.
- e.
- The government of Guatemala is reacting defensively to the threat of revolution. It expects any invasion to start from across the Salvadoran frontier, and believes its best chances for defense are to fall back on Quetzaltenango. Because the government no longer fully trusts the Army, it has begun the development of a secret force of 1500 non-military personnel, broken down into three separate organizations: (1) the Caribbean Legion (200)…;(2) a secret Communist organization (500); (3) a group composed of Cubans and Spanish Republicans.
- f.
- The Costa Rican elections are scheduled for July 1953. Figueres, supported by the Guatemalan Government, is reported to control 105 of the 106 employees in the Registro Civil where all voters must register. A continuance of financial support from Guatemala reinforces his already strong position. According to recent reports, Betancourt (the exiled leader of the Venezuelan Accion Democratica leftist party) was still being given shelter and support by Figueres. (OCI notes that Figueres appears to be so strong politically at this time that there is no reason to believe that withdrawal of financial support by Guatemala, or the overthrow of the Guatemalan Government, would seriously affect Figueres candidacy one way or the other.)
- g.
- A reliable source… indicates that his country is so concerned with the increasing domination of communists in Guatemala and the extension of their activities to other Central American countries, that El Salvador is considering a move against Guatemala in late December or early January. We have not ascertained whether an overt move or covert support of Guatemalan anti-Communists is planned. Our source indicates that the principal restraint upon such action is doubt as to whether the US would view it with favor.
- 2.
- We have heretofore advised you of the existence of a substantial revolutionary group planning to overthrow a presently Communist infiltrated Guatemalan Government. In accordance with State Department instructions, we have given no overt or covert assistance to this group.
Walter B. Smith