GUATEMALA: Democracy

Boy Scouts, students, a uniformed midget and a legless man directed traffic in Guatemala City, which three weeks ago was the most heavily policed community in the Hemisphere. The Revolutionary Junta (Captain Jacobo Arbenz, Jorge Toriello, Major Francisco Xavier Arana) surveyed the smoking ruins of San José Fortress, whose guns had so often fired on the people of Guatemala, decided to make the place a children’s park. Fifteen more generals fled to Mexico.

Guatemalans went to the polls quietly, voted for a congress to support Presidential Candidate Juan José Arévalo, who was pledged to further reforms. Even the conservative minority conceded that the elections had been free.

But international recognition had not yet come. The State Department studied the new Government with field glasses. Said the Junta in a statement: “We are not seeking recognition, since we think it will come naturally because of our pro-democratic ideals.”