"A Madhouse ..."

"That Arevalo. He hates me. I don't know why. Lord, he has troubles of his own in Guatemala--why bother to stick his nose into Nicaragua?" Nicaraguan Dictator Anastasio ("Tacho") Somoza, who is proud of his English, paused abruptly and jabbed a fat finger into the stuffed Guatemalan quetzal that hung by his desk. "The quetzal--symbol of liberty or death to the Guatemalans," he snickered. "There are lots of tame ones in the Bronx Zoo."*

The general hitched up his paunch, went on berating Guatemala's President. "Ever since Arevalo took office," he rumbled, "that man has caused trouble in the Caribbean. Now we've got a hell of a problem brewing around Central America, and something has got to be done to stop it. Look at that Figueres, a tool of Arevalo. God knows what he's up to now that he's got hold of Costa Rica. And all those Dominican and Nicaraguan exiles. I wonder if those birds in all those plots realize that Central America may be heading not for ordinary war but a bloody clash of races and classes."

Ready for War. Tacho had a shotgun propped behind his desk. He intended to be prepared on all fronts. Last week his flyers took delivery in Miami of AT6 trainer planes bought by the dictator after the U.S. recognized Nicaragua last May. In the Dominican Republic, the eastern end of the Caribbean dictators' axis, Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo's mechanics were busy scraping the Dominican insignia off three P-38s. They were ticketed for Nicaragua, where Tacho had pilots waiting to fly them.

Close to the Costa Rican frontier, 100 Costa Rican exiles and Nicaraguans were getting small-arms training. Last fortnight a like group staged a practice patrol across the border. Figueres forces shot them up, captured some Nicaraguans bearing Sten guns which had been shipped in by Trujillo.

Not all Costa Rican exiles were so keen on fighting their way home. Wailed ex-President Teodoro Picado, now in Managua on a $300-a-month job as adviser to Nicaragua's Finance Ministry: "I ask only the privilege of returning home in peace. God, all Central America is a madhouse, each man accusing his neighbor."

Even the Nicaraguan peons knew that something was stirring. The tipoff: a drastic drop in planting during the current rainy season. Small farmers, sure that in the event of war troops would burn their fields, had planted just enough for their own use.

Prepare for Peace. For all his planes and guns, and the best army in Central America, Tacho was worried. Last week he decided that it was time to try a little appeasement. To four Central American republics (Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras) his Foreign Minister Luis Debayle, who is also his brother-in-law, sent invitations to a regional conference on "outdated treaty agreements."

Guatemala was not on the list, but Debayle was hopeful of ringing in at least a Guatemalan observer. It was Tacho's peace offer. With all Central America rumbling war and rebellion, he hoped his neighbors would take it. "Nicaragua is absolutely planning no aggression," he cried, stroking the green, two-foot tail feathers of his stuffed quetzal.

* There are three. Though quetzals are supposed to die in captivity, the Zoo has had one for two and a half years, the others for 22 months.

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