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present government in
Guatemala has been called a
Moscow-financed conspiracy whose
aim is to establish a Soviet Re-
public in the Americas. What
is the truth?

The Guatemalan Revolution of
1944 had its roots in the anti-
fascist struggle of World War Il
and was guided and inspired by
the “Four Freedoms” of the At-
lantic Charter. It was an out-

as such.

This democratic movement was
backed by a coalition of profes-
sional, business and labor ele-
ments supported by the army.
The present regime is popular
with the middle class as well as
with labor and the peasantry.

The economic system prior to
the 1944 revolution was feudal-
istic; the economy today is in a
transitional stage between feud-
alism and liberal capitalism.
Guatemala does not have nor does
it envision socialism.

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Guatemala’s government has
been described as a “Slav-type
oligarchy” dominated by a left-
wing minority. What is the actual
form of government in Guate- ,
mala?

Guatemala is a constitutional
democracy. The President and
the Congress are freely elected
by the citizens, who exercise the
right to organize political parties
either for or against the govern-
ment.

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Most newspapers take the offi-
cial U.S. State Department line
that Guatemala is “Communist
controlled.” Is this ‘true?

The Communist party is legal
in Guatemala. Only four years
old, it is one of the smallest par-
ties. Communists comprise only
about one-fifteenth of one per-
cent of the total population.

There is not a single Commun-
ist in the cabinet, and there are
only four Communists in the 56-
member Congress.

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it is often stated that the Guate-
malan Communist party exercises
an influence far out of proportion
to its membership. If this is true,
how can it be accounted for?

The Communist party (called
the Guatemalan Workers party)
has taken an active part in labor
organization and in promoting and ©
accelerating the legal distribution
ef land to the landless peasants;
by doing so, it has earned the
respect of the people. Gordon
Pates wrote in The San Francisco
Chronicle (October 11, 1953):
_“Theit success .... appears to
stem largely from: their willing-
ness to embrace popular. national

‘eauses, and their. ability to iden- -

tify themselves closely with the
Guatemalan people in their strug-
gle for economic betterment.” :.

Sydney Gruson of the New

’ York Times wrote (February 23,

1953):

“

. . . there is a tendency to
lose sight of the fact that if there
had not been a single Commun-
ist in Guatemala, the revolution-
aries who overthrew (Dictator)
Jorge Ubico still would have in-
sisted on the present program
... that is generally condemned
as Communist-inspired.” , a
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What are the Guatemalan re-
forms that have caused so much
controversy? ; :

The most important has been
the land reform. In Guatemala
two percent of the people owned
70 percent of the land, while mil-
Kons of peasants were without
any land whatever. The govern-
ment expropriates only the un-
cultivated land of large landown-
ers and pays for it with interest-

growth of the Roosevelt Good |
Neighbor policy and was hailed

Dallas, : =

Pacitic
Ocean

answers on Guatemala

hearing bonds. So far about one
million acres (less than four per-
cent of the total land area) have
been expropriated. -

There is no discrimination
against foreign-owned land; gov-
ernment plantations have been
expropriated as well as private
holdings of the president, the
foreign minister, and other mem-
bers of the government. ;

Under the dictators no labo
laws or unions were permitted.
New labor laws have favored the
formation of unions of workers
and farmers. : i

Some other reforms are a so-
cial security system, expanded
public schools, national hygiene
and health programs, government
liousing, extension of highways,
government loans to farmers and
power projects.

Who objects to these reforms,
vand why? i

The principal opponent of re-
form is the U.S. fruit trust, Unit-
ed Fruit Co., Guatemala’s largest
landowner and largest. employer.
Four hundred thousand acres of
its uncultivated land were expro-
priated and paid for at the com-
pany’s own evaluation. Prior to
the revolution this corporation
dominated Guatemala’s economic
life. It controlled the govern-
ment, and ran the country for
its own profit. United still con-
trols the country’s only railroad,
its seaport facilities and ocean
shipping to and from Guatemala.

Democracy threatened United’s
r:gid control of Guatemala. Land
reform, unions, labor codes, high-
ways and new ports hinder Unit-
ed’s unfettered exploitation of the
Guatemalan people. Formerly the
United Fruit Company and other
foreign monopolies enjoyed spec-
jal privileges and exemptions in
Guatemala; now they must oper-
ate on a, basis of equality with
domestic enterprises and obey
the laws.

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lt has been asserted frequent-
ly that the operation of foreign
enterprises has been beneficial to
Guatemala. To what extent is
this true? By

Under United Fruit control for

almost half a century, Guatemala -

was one of the least developed
countries in the world. Its peo-

joyed no democratic rights, were
decimated by tropical’ diseases
and tuberculosis, and were 70
percent illiterate. Farm laborers
received less than 25 cents a day
in wages and all workers were
forbidden to organize. :

The country had almost n
roads or other communications,
virtually no industry and little
electric power. Its agricultural
production was so low that basic
foods had to be imported at ex-
erbitant prices.

It is true that United Fruit
modernized those facilities relat-
ed to its own operations; but

‘meanwhile, progress of the coun-

try as a-whole was kept at a
standstill.’
: « &

Are monopolies such as United»
Fruit able to influence U.S. for-
eign policy? :

Yes. Some of the principal ad-
vocates of intervention in Guate-
mala have versonal or family con-
nections with these monopolies
and also exert strong influence in
the U.S. government.

John Moors Cabot, Assistant
Secretary of State for Inter-Am-
erican Affairs, led the attack
against Guatemala. His brother,
Thomas D. Cabot, is a director of

the First National Bank of Bos- .

ton (the United» Fruit bank).
Thomas D. Cabot is also Director
of International Security Affairs
for the U.S. State Department.
U.S. Secretary of .Commerce
Sinclair Weeks is a director of
the First National Bank of Boston.

Spruille Braden, former Assist- -

ant Secretary of State for Inter-
American: Affairs, is now. Public
Relations Director of United
Fruit.

The electric monopoly in Guate-
mala is controlled by Morgan in-
terests, and the tieup between
the Morgan empire and the Eisen-
hower administration, through
such figures as Defense Secre-
tary Charles E. Wilson, Sen. Hen-
ry Cabot Lodge and Robert T.
Stevens, Secretary of the Army,
is well known. United Fruit also
has interlocking directorates with
key Morgan concerns.

How serious is the threat of

foreign intervention in Guate-
mala?

The threat i$ grave and im-

- By ELLIOT CLAY

ple lived on a starvation diet, en-

JACOBO ARBENZ GUZMAN

GUILLERMO TORIELLO.

A Communist government?
A threat to the Panama Canal?

‘That’s what U.S’ government

spokesmen say. Here are the
facts--the questions and answers.

- Questions and

———2

mediate. A growing number of
US. legislators, politicians, busi-
nessmen, financiers and even
labor and farm leaders have open-.
ly advocated intervention.

The democratic Guatemalan
government has weathered over
20 armed revolts since 1944, most
of them involving foreign armies”
and financial support. In Febru-
ary the government published |
documentary evidence of an in-
vasion plot implicating Nicaragua ~
and the Dominican Republic. Un-
ited Fruit Co. was to supply
weapons. i ‘

The U.S. has refused to permit
sale of arms to Guatemala in re-
cent years, . while supplying

abundant war materials to Nica-

ragua, El Salvador, Honduras and
Costa Rica, all hostile to Guate-
mala. According to Business

Week (March 21, 1953) these —

countries are “spoiling for a
chance to uproot the present
Guatemalan government.” Yet
when Guatemala imported neces-
sary defensive armaments and
anti-aircraft shells from Europe,
the U.S. government and ‘press
regarded this as “aggressive.”

A US. resolution passed at the
recent Inter-American Conference
at Caracas, supposedly to pre-
vent “communist aggression,”
was aimed directly against Guate-
mala. A meeting of the Organiz-
ation of American States set for
July will plan intervention by
neighboring dictator - governed

countries under U.S. political »

control. Nicaragua has already
broken diplomatic ties with Guate-
mala‘ and asks that the Caracas
resolution be applied. The,
“rebel” invasion from Honduras
which began a fortnight ago was
the opening move in the foreign
intervention: plan.

Does Guatemala really threaten
neighboring countries or the Pana-
ma Canal? . 1
Nos

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JULY 2, 1954 — PAG

The Guatemalan border is, 4
distant from the ‘Panama Cana,
as it is from Brownsville, Texas,
or Key West, Fla. An assault
on the canal would require the
mevement of ground troops
through more than 800 miles of
mountains and. trackless jungle,
and through four well-armed hos: —
tile’ countries.

ca \

Why, then, is Guatemala of
such great concern to the U.5-
government? ak

Guatemala has asserted its 1%
dependence from foreign contro
at a time when U.S. imperialism
is expanding rapidly and requires
subservient governments to i
sure steady profits to investors.

Forty percent of all U.S. direct
foreign investments is in Latin
America, some $6 billion in all.
Latin America takes 40 percent OF
all U.S. exports. :

Guatemala endangers imperial:
ism by setting an example of d&
mocracy .and independence for
people now under U.S. controlled
dictatorships.

Why is Guatemala of particU: —
lar concern to North America®
labor? :

The campaign against Guate
mala is a campaign to perpetuate —
the United Fruit Co. monopoly.
Anyone who has worked for this.
corporation, for the United Frul
Steamship Lines, for Fruit DS
patch or for any of United’s more
than 50 subsidiaries, knows’ t

anti-labor policy which has chat —

acterized the corporation throug?”
out history. Strengthening
‘monopoly through the suppre>
sion of Guatemalan democra¢
means weakening both U.S. 22°
Central American labor. :
In Guatemala we see the strug
gle between an independent 0©
mocracy and U.S, ‘imperialis®™-
Imperialism aids monopoly, #
injures workers and consumer=.
Imperialism is internatio?,
-and defense against it must. 4
international. Thus organ
workers of the U.S. and Cam
must join with their Latin
crican allies if the anth

pe
cratic, anti-labor forces oo We
held in check. Every North | iy

mala. : 10.

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