Strong Man Out

In clinging to power since 1945, burly President Juan Jose Arevalo's left-wing government had leaned heavily on the support of its conservative strong man, Colonel Francisco J. Arana, chief of the armed forces and a member of the army junta which put Arevalo in. All told, the colonel had dutifully stamped out some 20 attempted uprisings. Last week revolutionary guns again slammed and chattered in Guatemala City, but there was no longer an Arana to quiet them. He had been assassinated. The outbreak was an unplanned, furious, futile attempt to avenge him by ousting the government.

"That Damned Schoolteacher." Through almost five years of Arevalo's "spiritual socialism," shrewd "Paco" Arana had patiently listened to a string of well-heeled callers telling him why he should send "that damned schoolteacher" back to Argentina (where Arevalo spent 15 years). A smart politician, Arana was friendly to all, made promises and took no action--except to put down outright revolt. He did not want to upset the government; he wanted to be elected President himself in 1950, when Arevalo's term ends.

His chief rival, Defense Minister Lieut. Colonel Jacobo Arbenz, a warm supporter of Arevalo and spiritual socialism, viewed Arana's progress with increasing concern. Last fortnight, Arana gave the Defense Minister a direct slap by firing one of Arbenz' friends as chief of the air force and replacing him with his own man. This followed the victory of seven Arana-backed candidates over Arbenz' men in elections for members of the Supreme Defense Council.

"Guard Your Life." If Arana did not know he was in danger, it was not for lack of warning: the radio station of the Dominican Republic's Arevalo-hating Rafael Trujillo, who has an excellent intelligence service, began interrupting programs with a special message. "Hello, hello Guatemala," said the Voz Dominicana. "Calling

Colonel Arana: guard your life . . . your assassination is plotted."

One morning last week Arana drove out to Lake Amatitlan, twelve miles south of Guatemala City, to inspect a store of government arms. When he started back, gunmen trapped his car in the middle of a narrow, arched bridge, then opened up with machine guns. Arana and two companions were killed.

The government went into action within minutes after the shooting. Armed cops were concentrated at the Central Police Station on Sixth Avenue, the city's main street. The guard at the governmental palace broke out machine guns, barred the doors. Telephone service was suspended, and the air force sent up patrols.

"Not One Minute Less . . ." Arana's closest friends had been the officers of Fort Guardia de Honor, on the southeast edge of the city. When they got the news of the shooting, Colonel Jorge Barrios opened a case of Old Parr Scotch and called his officers into conference. Convinced that Arana had been murdered by pro-Arevalo killers, they determined to take over the government. The question was, who would form the junta?

For more than two hours the officers bickered. Then Barrios announced that a junta had been formed and sent two tanks to the National Palace to demand Arevalo's surrender. The President's defiant answer: "My term is six years. I will serve not one minute less and not one minute more."

Throughout the night the poorly organized rebels, supported by tanks and field guns, mounted attack after attack on the palace, the police station and the army airport. The town's best residential sections, Tivoli and Santa Clara, were squeezed in a triangle formed by the military academy on the north, the airbase on the south and Fort Guardia de Honor on the east. Tanks clattered through as street fighters kept up a running battle from doorway to doorway, the military bases exchanged artillery fire and government planes zoomed down to bomb tanks and strafe street fighters. The quaking government passed out arms to trade unionists and other civilian volunteers at the police station.

"Democracy Has Triumphed." Early in the morning, the government decided to make a deal. At President Arevalo's request, the Papal Nuncio and the ambassadors of El Salvador and Argentina asked for a truce and offered the rebels generous terms, including amnesty and a government reorganization. Running low on ammunition, the rebels agreed.

But during the negotiations, 1,500 government reinforcements arrived from outside the city. Arevalo got his nerve back, withdrew his terms, reopened the battle. Government forces burst into Fort Guardia de Honor that night to find that 400 of its 600 defenders had made for the hills. Colonel Barrios had sought asylum in the Salvadorean embassy. The toll of the fighting was estimated at 200 killed, 500 wounded.

Next day Arevalo boasted, "Democracy has triumphed," then took some undemocratic measures. All newspapers and radio stations were closed; opposition leaders were thrown in jail. The army launched a purge of pro-Arana officers.

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