U.S. SENDING ENVOY TO GUATEMALA WITH VIEW TO RESUMING ARMS AID

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000700060080-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 17, 2005
• Sequence Number: 80
• Publication Date: May 7, 1981
• Content Type: NSPR

ARTICLE !
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M Bor Release 2Q (O7 1c:4rDP91-00901R000700060
Se i ~ i wo~ ? to ai l American-supplied
be arms and training
would be used sed only y to increase the compe .
fightingtheguerrillas.
le to Rem* i l ~s Aid'
Reagan Administration officials haves
WASHINGTON. May 6 - The Reagan 'i and a retired general, who is Hows senior
rlministration: will send an envoy to
aatemala'next wee,k Co discuss United'
states conditions for restoring military'
aid,,..: State Department officials said
7 MAY 1031
gressional committees to support re-
quests for increased military-aid to El
Salvador, where 56 American military
advisers are now training Salvadoran
combat troops and technical personnel
,
adviser to Secretary of State Alexander , In El Salvador, as in Guatemala, the
M. Haig Jr., will visit Guatemala next security forces, and police have been
week to war out arrangements- under blamed for thousands of killings of un-
which.military assistance could be re- armed civilians, usually in towns or rural
areas where armed guerrillas have been
su
Guatemala has- not- received - United
eneral Walter who will be acco a_ operating.
States military aid slnce?I977, when the Hied by former Ambassador Ortiz will ., Pentagon officials have attributed such
military excesses; to poor. training of troops and
regime; rejected it. to protest also visit Honduras and Pana ma to con- , weak command structures defects that
American criticisrrz.of the country's-ai-
lt
ith
ili
su
w
m
tary and government offi-
leged human; .rights abuses: President. vials.
r. '
;z' I
Carter'withdrew the AmericanAmbassa- , As General Walters's mission was
dor to Guatemala, Frank V. Ortiz Jr Iasi being prepared, 'reports reached here
year. '' ;r? - '_':. that Guatemalan troops killed 40 to more
The. State Department said-to'day' that than 100 people in the village of Cocob in
with as many as'2,00i) "Cuban-supported El Quiche province on April. 17.. The re-
Marxist guerrillas". now operating. in ports, described as still fragmentary, in-
Guatemala; the Carter Administration's. dicated that troops surrounded the vil-
Closer.Re'latlooship Souj
"We hope changes. In the situation in
Guatemala will: sqo" permit a?:.closer
cooperative relationship,'? said. Dean
Fischer, .the State Department spokes-
man. "We wantto'helpthe Guatemalans
were
ill
"8"i"" the g err
as lotepeque. In, another case, 168 people
and to -work with them- tos control indis- were reported killed near Comalapa,
criminate violence of all kinds." Amnesty International; the London-
r. Fischer said that no request mm
Guatemala for a United States military
assistance program wass pending at this
time.
According to State Department curity agents and "death squads" pro-,
sour tested by the military's intelligence sere-
ces, Vernon A. Walters, a former ii .
eputy erector o entra . me tgece i. ices. The victims have included Manuel
Guatemala City, and Alberto Fuentes
,Mohr, a former Foreign Minister,-,
State Department sources said that
'any resumption of military aid would re-
quire prior assurances from President
.Romeo Lucas Garcia and the army high
command that political , assassinations
Guatemala's. armed forces have re-
ceived arms and advisory services from
other countries, . including Argentina,
during the suspension of United States
aid. But United States helicopters . ac-
quired by Guatemala before 1978 are re-
portedly in need of spare parts.
Approved For Release 2005/07/01 : CIA-RDP91-00901 R000700060080-0
presumably from guerrilla fire, .
American missionaries In Guatemala
have reported several mass killings of
peasants In February in Chimaltenango
province, northwest of Guatemala City.
In one'reported case, at least 85 people
kilted on Feb. 3 near San Martin Ji-
based human rights organization, said in
a- special report on Guatemala this year
that more than 3,000 political killings
STAT