«7 Say a] od-i007t-10213f : oo , . . - AIR POUCH «secu S FORMATION . | __GLASSIFICATION __, ‘TO + CHIEF Fe eT 16-26 * FROM :( CHIEF sF OF STATION, | Pe SUBJECT: GENERAL— sacrice Communist Activities mt FRFERENCE: DIR 16521, Gods ssmI00 8 B20 BOS e538 BOSTSSOIZ, —- 22AAPSSLB BEE Mazes ae 2, CHSd=132 2289-1, G59, S21 aprsGs Soe 32, th, “and iS9-L7 2? ree a3 <2 Y. General: A. In 1932-1933 thousands of Salvadorans were idilled in what wes - inown ae a Commmist uprising. At that time many Commmist were idlled and many escaped abroad where they are contimuing their Communist activities today. The strong reprisals against ,the - Comuunist twenty years ago, have been strong deterrents to the growth of Communism. In addition, International Communism has -eince those early days concentrated its activities ‘eigewhere = not in El Salvador. Be The present strength of the Communist: Party of El Salvador (Pcs) 4g estimated to be between three to four hundred with 30-L0 mili- tanta (Laieion estimates 50) and real “hard-core” members te be eee about 15. In considering the individual member of the PCS it must est be advised that he is not the intellectual, the welleread, the trae a weled, the talented Commniat one finds in Europe or even alerge. - =~ 1) South American n Country. 5] = while extremely anti-Commnist,: tolerates Comm a] es Yiférds ant has exiled certain Comminhst friends with = ~ Government pensions and diplomatic poste in the belief that abroad ing __ they can do no harm. At home a Communist who does not. a ae oppose OSORTO can and probably does hold a government Sob 4 ALINDO™?. ws a! - De “Het untdl the Governnent discovered large amounts of Communist ui! ” propaganda coming into El Salvador from Guatemala did the Governe Ss: mont realise the danger of Communism. The influx of such propae e ganda was firet noticed about one year ago when a bundle of propa- ad a], Railroad of Cenetral ., s) t ‘gonda was discovered on the "TAtematic a RGD Frit bye Bigs 61-20A
14-00000 : oe ac ory! @ ‘ ‘ SECRET SECURITY INFORMATION (2) America coming into Bl Salvador from Guatemala. ore prope aganda was discovered on both the train, in trucks and auto» mobiles and on suspicious persons ertering Fa Salvador from both Guatemala and Honduras, In the sumer of 1952 the Gove ernment began to inspect the baggage of exiled Salvadoran Cormuniota who were landing at ILopanyo airport intransit to Guatemala. In this fashion they discovered and coneficated Communist pins, leaflets, books films (Bad films printed by - Peiping), addressed, etc., from Salvadorans traveling to Com- manist. China and Commnist Lburope on Guatemalan passports. E. One week after President OSORIO and President ARBENZ of Cuate- . male mat on the common border, Presidént OSORIO declared a "State of Seige” at which tima he arrested about two hundred "“Commmnist® in the Capital city of El Salvador and about a4 "thougand" throughout the country. He deported 18 Conmnists to Costa Rica and kept another forty or fifty in jail. The Government had published"Communist Party Plans for the overe throw of the Government" with photographs of grenades, rifles, pistols, mimeograph machines, ete. purportedly found in the - homes of varioua Conmmunist leaders. Neither the Party Plane. nor the amount of arms appeared to the undersign « nor to other hmbassy Officials ~ authentic, logical, sufficient, and danger~ gus enough to warrant the State of Siege. It appeardd to ba ' Gavernment propaganda aimed at explaining its actions to the mass of people. It is believed that the real reason for the Governments action was the fear of the future 4f Communist propaganda was contimed. F. The background for today's situations vis a vis the Come munist Party of El Salvador, must include certain political, : military,and economic facts. President OSOBIO is politically. . acute; he is einceres he is progressive and desires greater — democracy for his country which he realises is dependent upon greater literecy and education. OSORIO has permitted the growth and the creation of other political parties, but no other pole 4t4cal party threatens the etrenght of the President's party - Partide Revolucienaric do Union Demoogatica, The Amy is com- pletely Leyal to the President and if there are pelitical mach= inatiens within tho Army they are in the form of plens for the nomination and election of their respective candidates in the elections to be held in 1956. The Amy, itself has various political cliques within it, but to the beat of our knowledge all cliques give OSORIO their full support. Keonomieally, the country is very sound with a high degree of employment and wages inoreasing In view of strong economy and a atable anti-Com- munist Governemt the Commnist Party of El Salvador finds very few oracke dn tho political well in which to offectively place. - their propaganda wedges. Sctktet SECURITY INFORMATION a i aes