Reema meine terrorist groups have recently been operating in the si ee ei by murdering thousands of peasant supporters of the Revoluta uerilla movements. The slaughter of these peasants is being carried out
the obvious approval and collaboration of not only the Guatemalan regim but also the U.S. imperialists themselves . Some of these grotesque organizations have been using soldiers i i clothes to carry out their " anti-communist wanttdoation Me IR fet fe eis terrorist group known as the White Hand is a creature of the Movimiénts. de : Liberacion Nacional, which in 1954 spearheaded the C.1.A. sponsored invasion from Honduras. which overthrew the elected social-democratic government of Jacobo Arbenz (who is at present exiled in Cuba )}» Since last July , M.L.N. leaders and their followers have been disappearing into Honduras. A new radio station based ne = has been warning peasants of a new invasion with massive American pport. Also the White Hand's vigilantes in the Oriente have recieved roughly two thousand rifles and machine guns which were given to the Guatemalan army under the U.S. military aid programme. The same machine guns are now being used in the slaughter of thousands of guerrilla collaborators and sympathisers in the towns and villages along the Atlantic Highway, which was formerly a stronghold o the guerrillas. Even the Army spokesmen have put the death roll in two provinces alone at roughly two thousand. Put together, these two facts : the reports of broadcasts about a U.S. supported invasion from Honduras, and the passing of America's " gift " of two thousand machine guns from the hands of the Army to the terrorists, appear to be enough to indict the U.S. of complicity in the fascist uprising. Also, in the face of the previous mounting guerrilla activity and influence in the country, it looks as though these terrorists have saved, at least for the moment, the possibility of direct U.S. military intervention in the tradition of the invasion of Dominica in 1965. ; The fascistic offensive has been recognised by the hated and feudalistic landowners as being advantageous to their continual suppression and exploitation of the landless peasants who favour the guerrillas, It seems clear enough that these are the ones who are financing the terrorists . The violence of recent months is believed to have claimed more lives than all the activities of the guerrillas and the reprisals of their traditional adversaries, the Army, for the past five years. Even the Roman Catholic bishops have strongly protested the counter-revolutionary slaughter. A missionary said that " there is hardly a day when you don't see a body floating down the Rio Managua’", The daily violence has become & way of life for most peasants in the country. In the words of Yon Sosa, leader of the guerrilla movement MR 13 ( the revolutionary movement of November 13th ) " our Campesino carries a long machete in a leather scabord for self-defense, and will buy a shotgun or pistol before he buys a pair of shoes = Obviously the long term effect of the terrorism inflicted on the peas&#®ts will be shown by their increasing alignment with the revolutionary movements, which like the N.L.F. in Vietnam rely on the peasants for their support rather than the landowners and the U.S.