- GUATEMALAN.
GUERRILLAS UNDER: COMBINED ASSAULT
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
A-new and: perhaps qualitatively significant action has been carried out: by: the: forces: determined to hold: back the Latin-:". American revolution at all costs. “he
On May: 27 news reached here confirming eariier! rumors: that — Guatemalan bombers. had. violated Honduran airspace: and had bombed ~ Honduran territory. eerie ify
.Two days earlier, La: Prensa of San:Pedro Sula, in the northern part of the Republic of Honduras, had reported that on the morning: | of May 21, three war:planes of the Guatemalan air force had violated Honduran territory.along the western border and bombed the area:::: in and around the town of El Triunfo, "whose inhabitants, in Spite of:their perplexed: surprise, counted a total of 36 explosions" which corresponded to the’ number of bombs seen dropped by. the Guatemalan’ pilots. . be
“ci: -°Qn May 28 more details reached this heavily censored,’ army~ patrolled capital of Honduras, most of the information being Fae £5 printed as a headline-story in the daily El Pueblo, organ of the: harassed Liberal party of Honduras.
These i ‘reports included the qualitatively’ new element: wari.
planes of both Guatemala and Honduras had participated.in the bombings. The:combined air operations: took place along: the entire border between.Guatemala and Honduras, from Copan Ruinas to Playitas, and were coordinated with action by ‘Honduran infantry:.
~ The infantry were brought from Santa Rosa de Copan under the eoamane of: Major Arnaldo Alvarado, head: ‘Of that military zone | (the: a third): TON aor roi ie. ba! .
The May 28. Fl Puedlo ‘reports that !the’ people who Live~on.
the Honduran side of the frontier believe that this combined military operation;: by air and land, was ‘directed.against a strong group of Guatemalan guerrillas that had gathered: in the mountainous terrain" along the border.
Various towns and small: villages suffered ‘from the bombings. Among these were La.Laguna, La Helencia, San Joaquin, El Paraiso and the outskirts of San Antonio and Pastoreadero.
Reliable sources from the area report that seven Honduran pitanes and ten or.twelve Guatemalan planes blasted: the area. for more than two’ hours. CO
The question of whether the enemy was "real" or samagitacy*
was implicitly settled when the residents of El Paraiso observed a helicopter making various trips. transporting Honduran soldiers,
apparently wounded, out of the area..Later reports from El Paraiso confirmed that a clash had occurred between Guatemalan Freedom fighters and Honduran government troops.
Additional news reaching here by word of mouth indicates that peasant families in the bombed areas, fled their homes. in fear of renewed air raids.
The: incidents mark what may be a "first" in Latin America: the combined efforts of two or:-more governments in actual antiguerrilla military operations. Ls Up to now, "training" operations have been carried out, involving troops and air and sea power from various ‘countries, invariably including, of course, U.S. armed forces, who not only provide Nadvice": in: the operations but also participate actively.
‘These full. ‘pattalion antiguerrilla dress rehearsals have not been limited to the infamous-U.S.-run antiguerrilla schools in oe Peru and Panama.
Just last month, "Operation Central America" was carried out right here: in Honduras. It involved ground. troops plus sea and air power from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama , Henduras and the USA.
This operation was the third and largest of recent international antiguerrilla military maneuvers here. In October of 1965 "Operation Halcén Vista" was. carried out in Honduras and Guatemala. It involved the armed;forces of Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras. The operation was supervised. by. the "Southern :. Commend" [Comando dei-~Sur] of .the USA.
"Operation Halcén Vista" included many of the subtle twofaced techniques which the imperialists applied in earlier .stages . of their aggression in Vietnam; namely, the dropping of propaganda leaflets in the area of operations, the distribution of food, medicine: and clothing. to the peasants of the area, etc.
. Meanwhile, air transport units: based in Guatemala were on standby to: fly paratroopers into the "enemy" position.
A "D" day was designated and headquarters were set up at San Pedro. Sula, which is also the center of the United Fruit Company and the Standard Fruit Company operations in Honduras.
"Operation Halcén Vista" was organized. as follows: a conmanding directorate, headed by Colonel Roberto Palma Galvez (Honduras), was :-set up plus a combined air force command, a combined naval command and a task force (land), headed respectively by . Major Luis Lépez (Nicaragua), Naval Lt. Juan Fernando Cifuentes (Guatemala) and ° Major: Miguel. Angel Garcia (Panama).
A parallel "Military Intelligence Section of the Central American Forces" (C-2) was also set up.
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-- U.S. pilots Capt. Max Cameron and Capt. Robert Blake reportedly took part -in:the-operation, using Phantom. Jets. equipped with “Side~: winder" and "Sparrow" missiles. = oe
Last November a:similar combined military rehearsal was carried. out. "Operation Montecristo" took place in the. north-: western. part of the :country and:also along the area where the: borders of Guatemala, El Salvador and : Honduras converge +
“Such operations, and this latest incident in which the armed forces of two or more governments were used in a real antiguerrilla attack, reveal how greatly imperialism fears the Latin-American revolution and how: determined it is-to mobilize against..it, using counterrevolutionary forces on the widest scale and in the most violent way.
‘These developments -also show how illusory. it is to velieve that a revolutionary government can be stabilized in a’single:. country in view of the realities of the Latin-American scene.
In a most urgent. sense, genuine international. coordination oe is needed anong the liberation movements in.Latin America...In the .. last analysis, this need cannot be met except through a truly international revolutionary party, based on democratic-centralisn, which: includes all:the revolutionary organizations: of Latin Aneriga..
More than ever it is evident that the Latin-American revol— utions of "national:liberation" must be coerdinated as continental in scope and:socialist in essence in order to successfully: controny the international counterrevolution organized by imperialism and.;; its indigenous agents.
COUNTERREVOLUTIONARIES