282. Editorial Note
A revolt of Guatemalan military cadets disturbed the tentative peace in Guatemala City on August 2, 1954. Castillo Armas viewed the uprising as the precursor of a large-scale army revolt by “unknown forces.” He told Ambassador Peurifoy that he planned to “escape” the city in the evening to regroup his liberation forces. (Telegram 116 to the CIA, August 3; Central Intelligence Agency, Job 79–01025A, Box 11, Folder 7)
The revolt faltered the same day and order was restored by nightfall. On August 5 Allen Dulles reported to the National Security Council: “The revolt of the cadets was a natural development from the possibility that the liberation army would secure all the military positions which the cadets had hoped for. Everything was quiet now that both the cadets and the liberation army had been disarmed.” (Memorandum of discussion at the 209th meeting of the NSC; Eisenhower Library, Eisenhower Papers, Whitman File)
Documentation on the revolt is in the National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central File 714.00. For a discussion of the incident, see Gleijeses, Shattered Hope, pages 357–360.