Evening star., 1950-05-28

left the empty shell of the preSi-
dency itself to various puppets, the
most recent of whom was his aged
uncle, DR.. Victor Manuel Roman y
Reyes, and invested himself with
the position and grandiloquent
title Of Minister of War, Navy
and Aviation and Commander of
the National Guard" the general
continued to plan further con-
quests for the future.
He was already candidate for
the presidency in the next elec-
ton. For the purposes of this
campaign he had even succeeded
in arranging sort of political
truce with his old enemy, Gen.
Emiliano Chamorro, head of the
dwindling but still financially i'm
portant Conservative Party.
At any rate. President Roman y
Reyes fell critically i'll and was
rushed to hospital in Philadel-
phia. Congress designated Min
lister OF the Interior DR.. Modesto
Salmeron as acting President.
But when Roman y Reyes died,
a hastily summoned session of
Congress decided" that Somoza
should take over and fill out the
presidential term. Whereupon the
late Presidents son charged the
general with executing a coup
detat, and Gen. Chamorro an
nounced that the Liberal -ConSer-
vative truce had ended. Somoza
says the election will be held as
scheduled, and that he is still a
candidate for another full term.
Trouble in Honduras
Going on northward to Hon
duras the government of President
Juan Manuel Galvez has reported
several efforts of Honduras emil
grants residing in Guatemala, :"
and Others" to invade the coun-
try. So far these forays have
been little more than skirmishes.
But lately the Honduras press,
which usually reflects official opin-
ion, has been giving considerable
attention to the Influx of left
lists" from Guatemala.
Ell Dia, a prominent weekly pub
llcatlon of Tegucigalpa, has de-
voted much space recently to the
Alliance of Democratic Youth, a
pro- Communist organization whose
Caribbean activities seem to CEN
ter in Guatemala. At least one
of it's chief leaders, according to
Ell Dia. lis the well-known Guate-
mala Communist, Bachiller Carlos
Manuel Pelliecer."
Meanwhile the presidential cam
paign in Guatemala grows more
heated each day. Col. Jacobo
Arbenz, candidate of the power
full pro-Communist labor unions,
and with the apparent support of
President Arevalo, is consistently
denouncing imperialism" mean
ing Of course. United States i'm
perialism. The battle, although
somewhat one-sided, in spite of an
opposition candidate, has all
kinds of violent possibilities. The
present administration has had to
fight of no less than 20 different
bloody revolts. With the Com
munists actually pulling the
strings behind the scenes in the
current contest, anything could
happen.
Our own position. and particu-
larly that of our investors in the
country, was already unfavorable
enough, what with the anti
Yankee campaign carried on by
the Reds and their friends. Presi-
dent Arevalos recent request for
the recall of Ambassador Richard
Patterson made it worse.
AT any rate, Assistant Secretary
/, Miller's forthcoming trip through
various of these politically tense
and unhappy little nations will
afford him an opportunity to
verify the fact that all our poten-
TALLY dangerous international diff
ficulties are not to be found in
Fllrope and Asia