1954-07-15 — Page 1

TALE

OF TORTURE

IN GUATEMALA

From MARGARET LESLEY

Guatemala City, workers whom the Communists anti- werG wooing with tales that

PALE, gauni Communist of

36 under Communism

ΣΕ

IL

named Julio Prado was released last week from Guatemala prison to tell

story of torture that matched those of countless others who have been cast Into Red gaols.

One of the 400 political prisoners held by the ousted Jacobo Arbenz's regime, he was taken immediately in a Red Cross ambulance to IL private hospital.

1 saw

him in hospital, where some 20 friends and relations hart kathered round him.

In a calin, subdued voice, still halt dazed, he recsunted lus 15. months' imprisonment and beat- ng which doctors said brought bi vor enth

"I

told

they could

Com-

sleep all day and drink all night.

them what munism really WEB, and 1 convinced many.

"Then on April 7, 1953, at the time of the uprising in the town of Salama, I was arreated. had nothin to do with the they wanted me uprising, but because I was miccesstul in my talks with the people.

"When I was arrested, I was beaten as 1 entered the police station. They hit me with a rifle and with fists. They threw me on the floor and kicked any head. Then they stripped inc. They had a tub

of very old! water and, with my hands and feet led, I was thrown into it,

False Confession

"When I gasped for breath and my lungs started to fill with water they pulled me out and started to question me.

Its voice boke only when he lold how, jm as her and a dozen othe. captives wee betone a

"They wanted the names of firing squar, an aerogantic new over the punk stone police bend- other anti-Cutiesi 4 Tay

ます wanted me to quaster in Guatemala City.

had been I Pea The guards,

been hed

Com let, an out lu people ordered to Are their ratchape-guns at the Nicaragus plane, one of abel leader Carlos Castille Armas raiders,

That saved me." be gabi. beleve in Cord and Tin sure H was a miracle"

Went Underground

Jullo Prado was an accountant who lived with his wife and three children, aged three, six arul eight, in the provincial town of Mazatenango,

adarsit conniving

with

Honduras and

and Salvador, that I had been getting It was not true, any of it

1 refused to say anything.

and

and

They put me back in the water. They dad this about 20 25 time all through the wight. Fully I lost conscious- Then they beat me arrows the kidneys and soles of

with fret My rubber hose

wire-weighted

"They beat me over the ebest tox.

und electrie "They

They and sticks. expert torturers.

shocks WCTO very

which

He was also an ardent anti- Red and president of the hail anti-Communist party,

went underground. persecution

by

the

regime.

**MA

that I

people.

»Bayer's « TONIC

(BAYER

"They published a confession because of but it was a false one. i never

Arbenz signed it.

Boyers TONIC

"At Brst they kept us on a

starvation diat of black beans, but gradually the food was in- creased.

"Fur the first year 3 allowed ta have Occasional visitors and keep in some touch with my family.

Badly Damaged

THE CHINA MAIL, THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1954.

the fion! down

he lam?

'PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE'

World Copyright by arrangement with the Manchester Guardian

STORM CLOUDS OVER

THE INDIAN OCEAN

UGAR Island colony of the Indian Ocean. Mauritius is used to storms storms reach cyclonic Can

By HAROLD JAMES

the

that the island is not yet ready for further political advance.

It seems inconceivable that the Colonial Secretary. Mr Oliver Lyttelton, after the lesson of British Gulana, will risk the near fasco. another of certainty Mauritius needs two things int the near future.

What's Wanted

and active

RUSSIAN RIVIERA

DEEP IN THE HEART

OF RUSSIA

H

RENE MacCOLL

picks a puzzled way through catacombs and conversation

WHERE THE

GIRLS ARE

PRETTIER

Kiev (capital of the please -- number

12 century?

casket. "AN, to

Ukraine). After 10 he comes 127 Oh, it is

not so? Eleven? is 1L." IGH up and low down A peasant women comes up have I explored this and kissen the glass top of a big. handsome city, nearby High up on the bluff which humble peasant woman old styles kärsing rellas. But towers above the River behold she do again be kissing with them, it is to marvel. She old. Youth people no interesting in religiozi. But none

being persecuting."

Dnieper (rhyme it pepper).

From there I could watch a Canges-like scene with 20,000 bronzed Ukrainians bathing in .mile on

Outside the heat bounces off

soccer team is trimmed seven to the pavementa and Danish

the wide river

Dynamos. mile of them. To the north one by the local

The white tunleked police are could see more than a hundred

sunburned deep mahogany miles in the sun-gripped clear

and are atmosphere of high summer.

oh so polite, soiuting all who

with approach them watch the crowded questions, even A

small boy. crowded

are

I could water traffic, the river full of The pavements ships and barges, some of them with soft drink and ice-cream

looked towing what

like a sellers. whole forestful of new-cut tim-

ber patterning out

wakes.

in

their

Gipsy Shine

Pravda is displayed for all to

Gipsy women sit in little tenta there to read but they are not

And then down into the city's read in gless cases along the catacombs, into a strange world main street. of cool dusk and gloom and the dimly glimpsed scurrying forms of the devout, where from all your palm but shine your shoes. the sound of The local delicacy is a "Kiev- great kissed as the ski cutlet," meaning

pieces of smacking shawled persant women bent to chicken cooked in batter and respecta by candle- then wrapped around with an outer layer of fried

about me came

pay their light to the relics of the saints which lie there.

Kiev is a fine, forth- coming, lay-it-on-the jine sort of place.

the

one

other

RUSSIA

KIEV

not

stuff,

You have to be

careful

jab

this with

to your fork-

it's liable to aquirt like

a grape-fruit.

On the

wide sand- spit down there in the middle of the stream aro yet

more bathers, -

The people are bronzed

and healthy looking,

are

the last boy and

and when they not wearing blouses they

Ukrainian

which

not Were it not phasis on "rights" force, flattening crops and by one seat. lifting the roofs off build- that Governor could obligations; on nationalisa- the on fleecing ings. And a storm is blow-nominate a dozen members, tion; and The next night they secretly ing up there now-- a poli- the Indians would have 'haves,'

aeroplane he said, "was hustled me into un

First, guidance for its legisla-The Czar ased to have <*****

own dark had everything their

a summer palace here storm, with talked with

But that is not the real tors in the art of government. humble and flew the to Solama. Theretical

the city could nationalism and way. clouds of and with the fariners

were about 80 prisoners there.

The Indian "Lab- The Government could give them ond

easily be dipped into a of danger. racial feeling. In it are The general election

place between, sty Nice and Monte Carlo signs of another "British 1953 saw the same result our Party stands for In- this.

and embellish ill-

things Guiana" — of an

a sweeping victory for In- dian nationalism, which puts Britain and

considerably. But unlike India before prepared proletariat strug- dian Labour.

Indeed,

of British Guiana, there were salutes Nehru rather than

two ореп- wasgling for political power.

control the Queen. And, although CECONDLY, the island must

air cliff-top restaurants to which are decked out in print dresses no Ministers' to

a strong Though Nehru has denied any ter- have Mauritius has a chequer the Government.

Since their defeat Kievites drive to seek a respite or suits of white silk and linen. Kiev, like Kharkov, has been ed history. It is almost certain unofficial members ritorial ambitions over Mau- Opposition.

of in 1948, the Europeans have from the overwhelming heat is

rotulls to a remarkable extent. unique among British of Council were attached to ritius, the possibility

withdrawa from the political called the Riviera. The

is called the Cuckoo,

The war might never have been, Mauritius being swallowed colonies in that when white departments to gain ex-

arena,

Dod the coloured

My interpreter, for such must and the streets

are lined with have netther

courtesy be his

thic, is it was perience, they had no execu- up by India remains a night- Mauritians

the high and handsome new build- men set foot there

mare to the Franco- the know-how nor the means welriest I have encountered yet. ings, Buildings of stone-and uninhabitated. First occu- five authority.

Mauritions.

to start a political party. Leader-

I can only suppose that he is that is D great thing in the Prado told his narrative with-pied by the Dutch, it was

ship, funds and organisation are

holiday replacement. His head U.S.S.R. For the old Russia out interruption, without bitter abandoned by them in 1710

is shaven, his votos never sinks was bull! needed. The initiative must le

almost Indian

entirely of outbursts. But occasionally his

with those who wand Mauritius the

below rouring level, and he has by and reoccupied elenching her wife broke in,

time, to remain Mauritian,

a startling taste in shirts.

The girls strike me as more French in 1722, With slave 11ata,

I pick my way through from Africa and at what they've done labour

English Uico a wayfarer lost in handsome than in other parts colonists To grasp full power is the

of the country-and even, some- to him," she cried.

Madagascar the

ambition of the Indian

some forbidding forest.

times, to be well dressed by Western standards. Or is it prospered, so that the 'Ile politicians. Though not de France, as it was then

just that I've been here a long ан united to what

me? called, was soon an outpost want, most Indians of French imperialism in that universal Buffrage tants.” the Indian Ocean. But it which would add 100,000 ceased to be French when illiterate voters to the elec-

torate

the conquered by Britain in the

and entrench Napoleonic wars,

Indians still further in their the abolition of position;

ORD Munster, Under-Secre- of nominated members and the L

State for the tary of slavery in 1834, the settlers introduction of the 'Minis Colonies, recently visited faced ruin and turned to terial'

with system

full Mauritius. Ho was left in no doubt that Indian demands India for labour for their powers to direct policy.

meet strong opposition from the sugar plantations.

A government so

con- other sections of the population. stituted would put the em- Some Indians themselves admit

DON'T

WASTE

WATER

"Lauk

Beneath his clothes wire horrible welts and bruises.

A doctor said that he was so badly damaged from beating that at Arst it was fcared gangrene would develop. How ever, he is expected now recover

to

Prado was only one of many who underwent similar treat

hundreds ot ment. Today

former prisoners are in hospitals in Guatemala City and homes being restored to a life they had thought lost.

DESIGNS

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

ART DEPARTMENT specialists in publicity.

„WYNDHAM STREET HONS KÖKE TEL.269(Í(SUMES)

آتی

|

abolition With the

Seeds Sown

ECONOMICALLY

the

Island was saved. Poli- tically the seeds of present difficulties were sown. From 100,000 at the time of the abolition of slavery the population rose to 300,000

by 1860. Today it is 500,000.

Indian Aim

"When," said an newspaper at election "the Indian majority come

But it would hearten the into their own, the quea- tion of India's relationship Her Majesty's Government responsible element in Mauritius with Mauritius will have to would announce that: they be decided in accordance seek with the will of the inhabi-

Opposition

1. Mauritius, because of lis size and slender resources, can never attain Dominion status.

2. Britain must have the Anal say in its defence and security.

3. There can be no question of any change in the present political relationship between the island and India.

If there was a wider apprecia- tion of theso facts in Mauritius, the danger clouds would be dispelled.

DON

Cold World

his

We go to the catacombe, taks each our little candle, and then descend for 60ft, into the cold withdrawn world of anchorites and holy mich, where one's shoulders rub both sides of the narrow tunnel, and where every turn one encounters illuminated

wood.

I'm wrong-there is one blot of war left, the wreck of what a beautiful and re- way once nowned monastery which was mined during the fighting. And it falls to my Irrepressible guldo. shrine containing to make the final comment on

that.

and Dra

né

on

"The

Germans

the richly-dressed monted remains of a saint.

flew it up." My man maintains an ox-like bellow as

he gives me what He glances quickly, at me, sees and correcta expression, passes for a running commen- my iary "He how you are himself"Oh, excuse it, pleaso saying he did being the big —you are saying correctly in that the Germans saint. Was he being tortured the British in number 10 - no excuse it have flowed it up."

IDDON'S DIARY

BESETTING SIN OF AMERICAN

ing

G

POLITICS

On Broadway

New York, Tuesday. level to the platform. Usually the Foreign Secretary is fond of tion that anyone who says that courages the madness of pro-

Churchill and Eden are appeas- ventive war, LEAVE for Hollywood there is a film-star or two head air-conditioning.

Sir Winston strolled out ers "should have their heads. It is, this sort of rigid thought tonight on the 20th-g for home, several politicians,

his examined.”

in the. While House and State big business men, Press agents, into the roso-garden with

10 low over his eyes

Arthur Schlesinger, who was Department which Churchill and homburg Century Limited, which and perhaps

columnist Of these, 10,000 are. Euro-

shade them from the glaring Adlai Stevenson's chief ad- Eden have been up against. At peans, 160,000 coloured - is the "flag" train of the aboard.

We get to Chicago at eight sun. Ho endured the heat well. viser in the election campaign, least they have had a sympathe descendants of the African New York Central, which

o'clock tomorrow morning and

His vigour

audience from America'a gour and energy during and is a professor of history, the slaves and over 800,000 millionaire Robert Young there are a few hours to look the long-drawn-out conferences offers the original theory that professors. Indians. Of the Indians has just acquired.

around Chicago before catch made a deep impression, on the Mr Eisenhower and Secretary were calling of State Dulles are making the Los Americans, who three-quarters are Hindus,

the Super Chief for It is Young's avowed inten- Angeles,

him "the grand old man," with mistake of thinking themselves the rest Moslems.

appointed messengers of tion to modernise and stream-

We arrive in Los Angeles at emphasis on the "old."

God. ling the New York Central. I breakfast-time on Thursday and

Mr Eden, has had a less sym- Until 1948, all races were don't know how he can make then there is a half-hour drive toward chain of newspapers is religiosity run so rampant lu Schlesinger says: "Never has The Scripps- pathetic Press. represented in the legisla-the 20th-Century Limited, any to Pacific Palisades, where my the latest group of publications Washington as It does today, ture, for the franchise was more modern or more stream family and I are staying. limited and most unofficial lined.

Mr and Mrs Anthony Bartley to label the Foreign Secretary President Elsenhower has ro England's Richard Heerno hes The Hearst peatedly made it evident that been a magnificent success in Americans say the 20th-Cene (Mrs. Bartley is Deborah Kerr) owners, which surprisingly ho regards the UB. the television shows here. London's members were nominated.. tury Es "the word's Anest

have kindly len ne their marted out with friendly edi- authorised

of "Mir Pastry has now got in representative But in 1948 the franchise train."

air-conditioned It in

ned souse, which has a swimming torinis and cartoons, ended up God in the was enlarged. All who could throughout, has luxurious draw pool and overlooks the Pacific by scoring at. Eden's Locarno Communism

From compartment, and Ocean, so I will hardly be Pact Idea write could vote.

bestrooms, #everal cocktail roughing it ca 10,000 the voters' roll in-lounges, club-cars, creased to 70,000.

as good as the Hitz, barber- shope, libraries, and cinema.

The result of the first election was a foregone con- The only team clusion.. .::

effort was made by the Hindu-dominated Labour

restaurants

19.

The plan is to take a few

"and" then small weeks holday

write some Diaries from Holly”.

Welcome relief

na

Root Cause

"

LONG Broadway there is a bright now. British star.

·US, following

against tre mirised the volta

Choughtful

may make, the enter tainers of Britain and the U.S.

the

Some of the more Americans believe that fectiontenthe beseffing will probably

deeply":moving: boo

sin of “American 1 politics. At countries torrent S

a frenzy for total security, "Gertrude Lawrence wood, San Francisco, and DITORS and columnists have the present tire the US. Is In Richard Aldrich his haps some of the Wild West bien more critical of the which could be the root cause of which

whatting -Englishmen thats the much of its and the fres "world's grabby o

of the great: F be glad to get out of general public. In cinemas.I have current trouble bass page husband. Aldrich' New York for a while. The heard audience opplaud, where Farty. It swept the board. You can telepone from your weather in July and August cense Prime Minister, and the Gost Kennan, the toppla

compartment to most places be murdarbus, p

Foreign: Secretary appeared on policy expert, says that Amer The Moslems could not get in the world (now Guatemala). It has been even

Wakuurious it; war: d:wond one candidate elected. The leaves Grand Central how Bird Win

Every day, the 20th-Century 1N Europeans, by whose sidlision at his in the evening. A the Arolina) capital and Industry, Mau, krnare: inhalalek a red. İriaus had prospered, won) down the ramp froen: Tha

£, the

poople I have met against. Interna), eintonas 1 © caring? the past few days files the excesses

woman he lovedi