Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, The American Republics, Volume IV

714.56/11–2654

The Secretary of State to the Director of the Foreign Operations Administration (Stassen)¹

secret

[Washington,] November 26, 1954.

Dear Mr. Stassen: Our Ambassador to Guatemala has urgently recommended, for important political reasons, that certain military equipment be made available to the Government of Guatemala and delivered before December 22, 1954. The equipment is desired for use in connection with a military demonstration to be held in Guatemala City on December 22, 1954, for the purpose of encouraging anti-communist elements and deterring communist conspiracy in Guatemala by a public show of Guatemalan military strength. As indicated in the enclosed memorandum of November 23, 1954,² from the Department of the Army, General Matthew B. Ridgway has informed the Guatemalan Ambassador, in Washington, that the Department of the Army will prepare the desired equipment for shipment without delay on a vessel scheduled to depart from New Orleans on December 10 and to arrive in Puerto Barrios on December 16. The Guatemalan Ambassador, however, has informed General Ridgway and representatives of the State Department that his Government cannot at the present time make full payment for the equipment in cash but would be prepared to pay for it on deferred payment terms under the provisions of Section 106, Public Law 665, approved August 26, 1954.

The Department of State believes that a public demonstration by Guatemalan military forces in possession of adequate equipment recently delivered by the United States would emphasize to communist elements in the Central American area the firm intention and the capability of the present Guatemalan Government to resist communist subversion and conspiracy with armed force and the determination of the United States to support Guatemala in resisting communism. This would conform with our national policy objective of eliminating the threat of communism from Guatemala and the Central American area. The Department of State therefore strongly recommends that Guatemala be permitted to procure the desired equipment on deferred payment terms and that the transaction be authorized in sufficient time to assure delivery of the equipment in Guatemala before December 22.³

Sincerely yours,

For the Secretary of State

Frederick E. Nolting, Jr.

Special Assistant to the Secretary for Mutual Security Affairs

1. Drafted by Special Assistant for Inter-American Military Affairs Spencer and Mr. Fisher.
2. Not attached to source text.

3. In a letter to Mr. Stassen, dated Nov. 29, 1954, supplementing this letter, Mr. Nolting, for the Secretary of State, stated in part that in spite of the current shortage of cash resources in Guatemala the Department of State believed that the country’s economy was “basically sound and that the long term fiscal outlook of the Government may be considered as reasonably optimistic.” (714.5 MSP/11–2954)

   Information in Department of State files indicates that by Dec. 3, 1954, the Department approved for sale to Guatemala on deferred credit terms military equipment, including vehicles, parts, and small arms ammunition, valued at approximately $400,000 (714.5 MSP/12–354), and that most of this equipment arrived in Guatemala prior to Dec. 22. Additional pertinent documentation is in files 714.5 MSP and 714.56.