FULTON LEWIS'S TV PROGRAM ON "GUATEMALA" AT 7:45 P.M., FRIDAY, 22 JANUARY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74-00297R000900090107-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 28, 2013
• Sequence Number: 107
• Publication Date: January 25, 1954
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2013/10/29: CIA-RDP74-00297R000900090107-9
(.4?4.,+eNZ (a,
jaeo icAcyper
25 January 1954
MEMORANDUM FOR maga"
SUEACT: Fulton Lewis's TV Program on ',Guatemalan at 7:45 P.M., Friday,
22 January.
Lewis had as guests Julius N. Cahn of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee staff and Senator Bourke Hickenlooper, both of whom had recently
been in Guatemala. mr. Hurley, assistant to Mr. Lewis, set the stage by
stating that Guatemala is the size of Tennessee, and then gave some of the
products, principally coffee. Tourists were once but are not now, it was
said, a thriving business. He pointed out that the political structure is
Communist-controlled, but 'not known at the Commdnist Party.
Mr. Cahn, a young man was a very effective speaker. He said he had
just returned from Guatemala, which is six hours by air from New Orleans and
two hours by air from Panama. He told of the seizure of property by the
government and declared that the independence of the Judiciary bas disappeared.
He said religion is rapidly disappearing and there are only BONS 180 priests
in the country and no more are wanted. He referred to the agrarian so-called
reform, and the so-called cultural reform under Communist leadership and
said the press is strangled and that 78% of the inhabitants are illiterate.
He stressed that a new international airline travels from Guatemala to
Montreal, Canada, and does not touch down in the United States.
Senator Hickenlooper said he was just back and that the United States
had no fear of a military danger from Guatemala but that the coultry could
furnish bases for guerrilla operations in South America. The present condi-
tions, be said, result from laxness in past administrations for several
years. Over two years ago, he declared, our State Department refused to
come to grips with the problem then presented. There are only 3,000
Communists in the country, he said, and the solution would appear to be in
the education of the people. An uprising by the Guatemalan people against
the new type of servitude under the Communists, who are usurpers of the
government, would some day occur, he hoped.
MT. LOUIS concluded the presentation with the statement that, by
refusing to accept Guatemalan coffee, the United States could cause the fall
of the present Guatemalan government.
STARLET J. GROGAN
Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2013/10/29: CIA-RDP74-00297R000900090107-9