Page:CIA and Guatemala Assassination Proposals, 1952-1954 (1995).djvu/5

 attacks on the army. A chart depicting the chief’s plan for the CALLIGERIS (Castillo Armas) organization showed the “K” Group. It was distributed in various paramilitary planning packets as late as the spring of 1954. In a briefing for in June 1954,  also mentioned that sabotage teams would assassinate known Communists in their areas once the invasion operation began.



As in PBFORTUNE, an intensive psychological warfare program paralleled the planning for paramilitary action. Utilizing the anti-Communist network established by a Guatemalan dissident, the Chief of Political and Psychological Operations at LINCOLN developed a major propaganda campaign against the Arbenz government. Part of this program included the sending of new mourning cards to top Communist leaders. These cards mourned the imminent purge or execution of various Communists throughout the world and hinted of the forthcoming doom of the addressee. Death letters were also sent to top Guatemalan Communists such as Guatemala City Station,  prepared these letters for the dissident leader. The “Nerve War Against Individuals,” as it was called, also included sending wooden coffins, hangman’s nooses, and phony bombs to selected individuals. Such slogans as “Here Lives a Spy” and “You have Only 5 Days” were painted on their houses.

Wanting to go beyond mere threats, the dissident leader suggested that the “violent disposal” of one of the top Guatemalan Communists would have a positive effect on the resistance movement and undermine Communist morale. The dissident leader’s recommendations called for the formation of a covert action group to perform violent, illegal acts against the government. LINCOLN cautioned the dissident leader, however, that such techniques were designed only to destroy a person’s usefulness. By destroy “we do not mean to kill the man,” LINCOLN cabled the dissident leader. Responding to the proposal that a top Communist leader be killed, Guatemala City told  he could not recommend assassinating any “death letter” recipients at this time because it might touch off “wholesale reprisals.” Reiterating that the plan was “to scare not kill,” he nevertheless suggested that  might wish to “study the suggestion for utility now or in the future.”

While Agency paramilitary and psychological warfare planning both included suggestions which implied assassination proposals, these proposals appear never to have been implemented. The chief had sought to use Castillo Armas’ “K” group scheme but there was no State Department or White House support. Such was also the case when the subject of assassination emerged in high-level Agency and inter-agency planning discussions.