711.14/6–1449
The Acting Secretary of
State to the Ambassador in Guatemala (Patterson)
restricted
Washington, June 14,
1949.
No. 80
Sir: Reference is had to conversations
held between you and officers of the Department during your recent
visit to Washington on the subject of relations between the United
States and Guatemala and proposed measures to improve them. It was
noted in those conversations that for some time, and increasingly
during the past six months, certain actions of the Guatemalan
Government have reflected a lack of concern for traditional good
relations between Guatemala and the United States. Some of these
actions have involved the rendering of cooperation and assistance to
pro-Communist elements in Guatemalan national life. Others have
demonstrated a disregard of the rights of legitimate American
interests established in the country and of the right of American
citizens to reside there in accordance with Guatemalan law. It was
agreed that measures should be taken by this Government to protect
its interests and to place relations between the two countries on a
sounder and more even footing.
The Department contemplates, with your agreement, that as a first
step in this direction you will call on President Arévalo1 and in a personal conversation express to him
your concern with the impression which has been created within this
Government by the attitudes adopted and the measures taken by the
Guatemalan Government in disparagement of American rights, of good
relations between Guatemala and the United States, and of the
all-important effort to preserve and strengthen the values of the
democratic culture common to both countries.
There is enclosed as of possible assistance to you in your
conversation with the President a memorandum setting forth some
recent developments in Guatemala that have been of particular
concern to this Government. The memorandum is not intended to be a
communication from this Government or from you personally to the
President. It is intended solely as a statement, which may be of aid
to you in your conversation, of troublesome developments in
Guatemalan-American relations. You may add to it if developments
later than those it covers warrant—for instance, should the bill for
raising duties on cotton
[Page 651]
yams and cloths be enacted into law despite the US-Guatemalan trade
agreement.2
If you deem it desirable, you may speak to the President again of the
contributions that American private capital is making to the
Guatemalan economy and of the role it could play in the further
development of the country were a favorable climate created for its
entry through the impartial administration of just and
non-discriminatory laws. You may refer not only to the material
benefits received by Guatemala as a result of present official and
private relations with the United States but of the contributions
made in fields such as education and sanitation by both private and
official American operations. It is the sincere hope of this
Government that it will be possible for American public and private
capital to continue to make a contribution to economic and social
development of Guatemala.
In your conversation with the President you should carefully refrain
in any way from conveying the impression that this Government is
assuming, or intends to assume, a threatening posture toward
Guatemala, which is not the case. However, the Department feels, and
you may so state to the President, that it cannot continue to
conduct its relations with the Guatemalan Government in that cordial
and cooperative spirit that has inspired it in the past unless there
is a reciprocal desire on the part of the Guatemalan Government to
contribute likewise to mutual understanding, fair treatment, and
friendly cooperation.
Very truly yours,
For the Acting Secretary of State:
Paul C. Daniels
Director American Republic Affairs
[Enclosure]
Memorandum
- (1)
- Carlos Manuel Pellecer, who is known by both governments
to be an active communist supporter and who gained notoriety
in Paris as Guatemalan Chargé by his efforts on behalf of
the communist cause was recently appointed head of the
Cultural Travelling Missions of the Guatemalan Government.
In this position he will control the education and
indoctrination of large numbers of the country’s
population.
- (2)
-
The two Guatemalan delegates to the so-called World Peace
Congress recently held at Paris by the communists as
part of their systematic campaign to destroy Western
democracy travelled on diplomatic passports. It is not
known that the passports were issued for any purpose
other than travel to the Congress. Hence, these
delegates may be considered to have been present there
under the sponsorship of the Guatemalan Government. Upon
his return to Guatemala one delegate has engaged in
parroting the usual anti-democratic, pro-communist
propaganda. The other delegate, rumor in Guatemala has
it, is now beyond the Iron Curtain, which may be crossed
with facility only by agents of, or outstanding
sympathizers with, communism.
To grant diplomatic or official passports to delegates
attending communist congresses appears very much against
the spirit and the letter of Resolution XXXII of the
Bogota Conference.3 It is to be hoped that the Guatemalan
delegates, if any, to the forthcoming Milan Congress of
the WFTU (the which
organization has been denounced as communist by the
democratic trade unions of the West which have left its
ranks) and to the communist-inspired “Peace” Congress of
Mexico City will not travel with official passports.
- (3)
- Guatemalan labor appears to be subjected to the influence
of nationals and foreigners connected with the international
communist movement. Relations between the labor movement of
Guatemala and the government are close and obviously the two
cooperate in meeting the country’s problems. Accordingly, it
is lamentable that the government, given its working
relations with the labor movement, does not seek to rectify
the apparent inspiration of its leaders in the totalitarian
East, where labor is regimented and exploited and its voice
brutally suppressed by the communist state. Rather, by its
acquiescence in this state of labor affairs, the government
appears to foster this inspiration. Equality and democracy
are the traditional ideal and goal of the West. It is there,
where the labor movement has militated long and successfully
for the improvement of the living standards of the people,
rather than in the false propaganda and the slave labor
movements of the East, that a sound labor movement may find
inspiration in the world of the present.
- (4)
- The recently adopted attitude of the Minister of
Agriculture4 toward the agricultural research program
in which the United States and Guatemala cooperate has
aroused the apprehensions of the Embassy and the Department.
It is not for a minute contended that this program should be
placed above criticism, but the manner in which the Minister
announced his intention of, and set about, investigating
[Page 653]
it was not
helpful. Rather it appears to betray a basic animus against
the program, which cannot but be alarming.
- (5)
- An anti-US attitude was noticeable in the preparations for
the inauguration of the Hospital Roosevelt Nurses’ Home.
Happily, speakers at the ceremony did not share this
attitude. But officials with influence in preparing the
program did. They attempted to eliminate prominent
recognition in it of US cooperation in the hospital
project.
- (6)
-
The experience of American enterprises participating, or
attempting to participate, in the economic development
of Guatemala has been discouraging. The unpleasant
episode in which the United Fruit Company figured in the
early part of the present year5 was aggravated by the evident
animus of certain Guatemalan officials against the
American company. Not content to let the law run its
course, these officials aroused public feeling against
the company and attempted to sway, and swayed, competent
authorities against the company. Thus the Minister of
Labor6 published a book against the company,
representing it as defying the nation. He attacked the
company’s lawyers as traitors to Guatemala. The
Government radio carried other attacks against the
company.
The Company was obliged to submit for settlement of the
difficulty to procedures of dubious legality. The
International Railways of Central America are now in
negotiations with their workers. It is to be hoped that
in this case the law will be permitted to run its course
without interference.
- (7)
- There have occurred within the last few months four cases
of the issuance of expulsion orders against American
citizens settled in Guatemala in the employ of established
American companies. While it may be that on purely legal
grounds the issuance of these orders is defensible, it is
impossible to avoid the suspicion that again the
anti-American animus of certain officials has played a part.
The cases appear to have been justiciable under the labor
law, but extraordinary procedures were availed of to move
against the American citizens summarily.
- (8)
- American lumber companies in the Peten area have had to
terminate their operations as a result of an embargo placed
by the Guatemalan Government on the regular routes of
transport for their product. After having entered Guatemala
under contract with the Government, these companies have
thus been caused serious financial loss.
- (9)
- The unsympathetic attitude of officials of the Guatemalan
Government has led to the curtailment of the operations of a
number of American companies which were engaged in
activities of greatest importance to the Guatemalan economy.
Pan American Airways has closed its flight control station
and its flight kitchen in Guatemala City, detracting from
the city’s potentialities as an important international
communications center. The United Fruit Company has
virtually decided to abandon Bananera plantations, rather
than invest under present conditions from $5,000,000 to
$10,000,000 in their rehabilitation.
Three American oil companies have made preparations to cease
their exploratory work in Guatemala. They had amply demonstrated
their sympathy with the government’s efforts to elaborate a
petroleum code which would safeguard the national interest in an
important natural resource. They were promised reasonable terms
under the law for continued operations in Guatemala. It was only
when the practical requisites for production had been ignored in
the revision of the petroleum code that they finally took steps
to end their activities. The circumstances surrounding this
revision manifest an anti-American attitude as well as lack of
technical knowledge of petroleum matters on the part of certain
officials. It is not the question of whether or not Guatemala
desires to have her petroleum resources developed by private
American capital that is of primary concern; it is the attitude
that was assumed toward that capital after it was invited to
enter Guatemala which is adverted to here.
