GUATEMALA

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27404, 17 July 1954, Page 3

GUATEMALA

Sir, —“G.A.P.’s” letter contains only general assertions designed to throw bricks at the Communists, thus covering up his lack of factual information concerning Spain, Tibet, East Europe and Guatemala itself. The Guatemalan Government was about as “Communist” as Micky Savage’s; but it did accept the aid of four Communist members of Parliament in reforming the conditions of life for thousands of illiterate and povertyridden peasants. If the United States Government has not admitted actual participation in Colonel Armas’s invasion, it has certainly not troubled to hide its persistent interference in the affairs of this “banana republic” —and why? The United Fruit Company monopoly, until the advent of the Arbenz Government, virtually appointed and controlled successive Guatemalan rulers, thus securing its profits—and keeping 'the peasants poor. By no stretch of imagination can an injury by the Organisation of American States, dominated by the United States, present an objective picture.—Yours, etc., ELSIE LOCKE. July 16, 1954.