SALE OF CZECHOALOVAKIAN ARMS IN GUATEMALA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R005800260008-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2000
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: September 21, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

CL ASSW ICATION COs:FID . , CONFIDENTIAL 25X1 A
41%oved For Re 11A2.0iIM 8Na1 q 82-0045 8M.2'
INFORMATION RE-PORT
COUND , Guatemala/Czecho slovak.ia
SUBJECT , Sale of Czechoslovakian Arms in Guatemala
CD NO.
DATE DISTR. 23. Sep 50
NO.OF PAGES 1
RACE 25X1 A NO. OF ENCLS.
ACQUIRED (LISTED BELOW)
DATE OF 25X1 A SUPPLEMENT TO
25DRX REPORT NO.
CLASSIFICATION CCr;F ~ 'IAL
aw IvsRa DI fBUTlb~t
This document is hereby regraded to
CONFIDENTIAL in accordance with the
fetter of 16 October 1978 from the
Director of Central Intelligence to the
Archivist hf the United States.
Next ReApp &W oFOr Release
Through his connections in the Guatemalan, Army, source learned that the
Army wished to place an order for Czechoslovakian small arms and ammunition.
At the sane time, reference was made to a "previous shipment 'Czechoslovakian
arms" that had already arrived in Guatemala, but which the :irny spokesman
said had not been ordered by the Guatemalan Army. Source added that this
was the first time he had heard of the "previous shipment" of Czechoslovakian
arms into Guatemalae
On 29 August 1950, source:, acquired another bit of information which ho
believed might throw some light on the shipment in questions A friend of
source had been tall. ing with one Francisco .'`ora.les, a member of the i'artido
Accion Revolucionaria (PAR), and noticing that he was wmring a gun, asked
to see it., 1orales showed it to him, and source's friend noted thr:t it was
of Czechoslovakian manufacture, and that it was new., i"orates said that the
gun had cost the PAR about eighty cr ninety dollars, and had been distri-
buted by them to certain. Party r'ombIsm rorales added that the guns had
arrived in Guatemala as a ecnsigmm~o:~t of 'ed cal supplies directed to the
Nui.stry of r ubl.ic '#ealth., Source said that in his opinion the errs probably
had been shipped eith~?.r out of }lamb err, Ger 'any, to ' ew York and thence to
Puerto Barrios via the United Fruit Com'+any, or out of Antwerp, Belgium, to
the port of San Jose, Guatemala, via the French Line.
25X1A
Commmthent: If Czechoslovakian arms were shipped to the rinictry of
Public Health as medical supplies, it is curious that such precautions
should be taken to disguise the shipment, since it would be perfectly
legitimate for the Guatemalan government to buy arms from Czechoslovakia
without such subterfuges. In the opinion of source, the rmossibility ousts
that the Guatemalan army refused to act as a cover for this purchase. End
the authorities may have thought it best to disguise the shipment. to iseep
its ultimate destination from becoming public knowledge,
CONFIDENTIAL
I
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2000/05/18: J*9RB ? _#005j90260008-