Slipping Fast

Torn from his family and accused of plotting against the government, Juan Cordova Cerna was kicked across the jungled border from Guatemala into Honduras three years ago. Anti-Communist Juan Cordova was a wealthy, well-born lawyer (at one time retained by the U.S.-owned United Fruit Co.) and a bitter enemy of the pro-Communist government that then ruled Guatemala. Last week Lawyer Cordova was again escorted over the border into Honduras. This time the ousting came from the government of President Carlos Castillo Armas, whose 1954 anti-Communist invasion-revolution Cordova had aided mightily.

The strong-arm handling of Juan Cordova was a measure of the disillusionment Castillo Armas has given his admirers of two years ago. Far from the hoped-for new era of democracy, Guatemala is slipping fast toward a dictatorship that gives reason for opposition from all quarters, then crushes its opponents under the slogan of antiCommunism.

Sore Points. The bill of grievances is long. Almost all land expropriated from big landlords under the 1952 land-reform program has been returned and the peasant occupants dispossessed. Trade unions, smashed in the revolution, have been allowed only a slight comeback. A dozen police organizations use third-degree methods with as much gusto as the Communists ever did. Old-fashioned banana-republic corruption taints the government clear to the top.

The vocal opposition to Castillo Armas is made up partly of a disorganized mixture of middle-readers like Cordova, non-Red leftists, intellectuals, students. Taking advantage of their disaffection is an organized Communist underground, intent on using the non-Communist opposition as a springboard back to power.

Getting Tough. Plainly, the Reds must be controlled. But the non-Reds,"if free to organize and campaign, would make a sizable showing in elections, and this is apparently what worries Castillo Armas most. Of Cordova, one government deputy said last week: "He's far worse than a Communist. He's presidential timber." Since June the government's policy has been to crack down on all dissent. Said Mario Sandoval, secretary-general of the government party, in a speech seconded by Castillo Armas: "Ours is the party of force, of combat and of organized violence--if our enemies ask for it."

A week later, when students started a protest parade, the government decided to use force. Castillo Armas' police fired into the marchers, killing four and injuring 27. A 30-day state of siege, clamped on that night, was extended last week for another month. "There are still many persons to arrest," explained Minister of Interior Miguel Ortiz Passarelli.

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