OCI NO. 6310 
CENTRAL INTELLIG! ENCE AGENG 
1] 
OFFICE 
“CURRENT INTELLIGENCE 
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27. 
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Commurists apperently responsible 
talks 
to end Hondurae str:ke: 
Nepfotiations 
for settlencnt of the 
month-old strike asc inst the United Fruit Company in Honduras 
broke down 
on 31 May after strike lender Cesar 
ig ee 
© declared thet the strikers had refused to accept 
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imited preliminary agreement. 
The breakdown coincided 
with the appearance of José Pineda Gomez, head of the Conmu- 
nist-front Democratic Revolutionary Party of Honduras, as 
legal edviser to the strike comnittee. 
The breakdown in- 
creases the possibilit cy of violence, accordirs to the Americana. 
embassy in Tegucigaipa. 
On 1 June a fruit company official reported that baek-to- 
‘work sentiment was increasing anong the strikers. 
He .added 
that strike leade- Coto hed beer captured and turned over 
to the Honduran .sthorities by « group of strikers in La Lima, 
Comment: A fairly relivnie source reported on 2% May that 
if 2 seitleneul js not reached 
hy Gn wnspecified dpte, company 
gasolioe scores 
be fired and Anericac citizers lynched 
or kidnaped. 
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Resentmezr* against the Comaynasts for 
the 
strike eppears 
de growing 
the stritecrs, 
“SANITIZE coPY 
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LATIN AMERICA. 
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"imminent." 
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GANITIZED 
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3 June 54 
Army reaction against any cpen move by the government 
to arm civilians "might have serious rvepercussions 
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nccording to the embassy. 
The chief of the armed forces, 
Colonel Carlos Enrique Diaz, hus “zliegedly assured a proup 
of officers that the Orbit arms were pronured exclusively 
for the army and that he will not permit 
any of thew to ?all 
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anto Communist hands. 
One officer hes suggested that Diaz 
could prevent this 
hapreninzg in the capital aven, but 
possibly not in the outlying denartrent:. 
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28. 
Guateralan army rezction to O=bit arms shipment reported: 
eports that Guatemalan 
The American embassy in Guatemela 
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army morale has generally improved eas a resiit of the 
arrival of Orbit arms, but that this does rot necessarily 
im 
strengthen the Arbenz regime. 
The emd255y notes that many oe 
officers now believe the army is capable of acting independ=- 
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ently and have spoken of a possible move to overthrow the 
regime. 
This does not mean, however, 
that such action 1is 
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Peron believes. OAS meeting Should not he limited to Guatemalan situ: tion: 
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Axveentine president Peron told Ambassador. 
Nufer on 1 June nat an Organization of 
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American Siates meeting on Cormmunist 
nenetration bri the entire hemisphere would 
be preferable to one on the Guatemalan situation alone. 
He said care 
. would be necessary to prevent the “imvulsiveness and irresponsibility" 
of Some Latin American governments from turning an OAS meeting Into 
"open intervention in Guaicmalan affairs." 
Thovch Peron acreed to support eoirvocation of 
a meeting on Guatemala alone, Nufer believes that in view of Argentina's 
‘ sensitivity on “interveniion,” the United States cannot yet count definitely 
on Buenos Aires for supp sort of “2deguate" action limited to Guatema i. 
Comment: 
Sentiment for an OAS meeting on 
Guatemala continues strong in Central Ameériea, the Caribbean, and in 
Colombia and Peru. 
No comparable support has been observed elsewhere, 
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Resistance to cuch 2 me eting still appears high in Venezuc!2 
arid) 
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also in Ecuador. 
Brazil has 
roimised to 
suppor! for a mec 
from Chile, 
Uruguay, Pararcva 
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and Bolivia, ‘but the results of any such action are not known, | 
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