GUATEMALA: Down the Middle

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Hope for the Future. Though the previous regime apparently hijacked some $30 to $35 million out of the treasury, leaving Castillo Armas some immediate financial problems, the future is not dismaying. Guatemala is fourth among the world's coffee-producing nations, and grows a high-quality bean that commands a premium price, benefiting both the economy and the tax collectors.

All signs thus pointed toward an enlightened, prosperous regime, and to this hope Roman Catholic Archbishop Mariano Rossell y Arellano added his influential voice. In a pastoral letter last week he said: "The hour has arrived to intensify the practice of the social doctrine of the church. If Guatemala fails to follow the Christian path of justice and love ... do not be surprised if bloody Communism again returns to this country." As a sort of amen to that, nine nations quickly recognized the new regime, and Secretary of State Dulles hinted that the U.S. would soon follow suit.

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