Evening star., 1954-07-03
BY Martin S. Hayden
North Am.riean N.w.pop.r AIIione..

Somewhere there is an un-
sung hero of the now-concluded
Guatemalan revolution.
He is a still anonymous Amer
ican espionage agent who tun-
neled through a mound Of Com
munist documentary camou-
flage and uncovered a $40 mill
lion shipment of Red arms that
was to have made secure Mos
cows first major foothc!d in
the Americas.
That. the now-revealed story
indicates. was the key step that
upset q Soviet infiltration plan
and let the rag-tag jungle forces
Of Carlos Castillo Armas win
the most publicized Central
American revolution of the gen.
GRAFTON. At the same time. it
short-circuited, at least tempo
rarily. the plant of right wing
critics that the United States
Central Intelligence Agency is a
bumbling. New Dealish amateur
at the cloak-and- dagger business
Of espionage and counterespio-
mage.
u. s. Was Concerned.
For months prior to its arrival
in the headlines. American Off
cials had been concerned over
the Guatemalan situation. They
had witnessed the feat of smart
politician, President Jacobo Ar
benz Guzman, who had parlayed
anti-Americanism. popular dis
like Of the United Fruit Co. and
a couple of strategic assaSsina-
tions to install an openly pro-
Communist regime.
On top Of that he had achieved
what no other South American
leftist had been able to get:
The loyalty of nom Communist
army officers bam- -boozled by
the theory that they could prob
ably trust the new president
and that. If they couldn't, they
always had the guns to upset
him.
The State Department dis
patched one of its top envoys,
Ambassador John Peurifoy, from
Greece to Guatemala City and
watched a succession of damag-
ing Arbenz moves: His liquida-
ton of foreign capital and do
mestic anti Communists, threat
ening gestures toward his neigh
bors and a series Of encouraged
strikes that spread across the
border to idle more than 10000
workers in neighboring Hon
duras.
Against Arbenz were the facts
OF growing discomfort at home
and an increasing number Of
exiles boiling to start a revolu-
tion under Col. ArmaS' leader
ship. But. unless the United
States wanted to forget all it's
non-intervention treaties and
use force, nothing could be done
until something shook the COM
placency Of the Guatemalan
army which, 1000 strong. is the
largest in Central America.
The something" that did the
trick was the work of the un-
named agent of the CIA. Some
how he got the tip that led him
through a maze of faxed mani
tests and dummy agents to the
May Is revelation of 1900 tons
of Polish arms shipped to Guate-
mala through a Swedish spe-
cialist in Communist arms trans
actions.
The revelation that Arbenz
had paid cash for an arms order
so far beyond his normal needs
shook every capital In the area.
But, most important, it shook
the Guatemalan Army, whose
leaders had never heard Of the
weapons transaction until the
American radio blared it to the
world. It fitted into what per-
hapS Mr.. Peurifoy and certainly
others had been telling them
lie. that the day would come
when Arbenz would arm his
peasant and Communist labor
followers and strip from the.
army its power to decide who
should rule Guatemala.
The word that the army was
disturbed was the signal for Col.
Armas to start marching. The
tiny Guatemalan air force
promptly deserted. The army,
after wavering for q week. fol-
lowed suit. and Arbenz resigned
and took refuge with nearly 100
Of his followers in . Mexican