Wave of Anti-jewish Propaganda Spreads in Guatemala; Jews Worried

After some months of relative absence of overt anti-Semitism, a new wave of anti-Jewish activities has spread in this country, resulting in grave concern among Guatemala’s 1, 500 Jews. Anti-Semitic leaflets are being distributed widely by mail, large quantities of anti-Semitic literature have made their appearance in book shops, and one of the leading newspaper publishers in the country is printing a series of articles attacking Jews and the Jewish religion.

Letters addressed to many non-Jewish businessmen and professionals in Guatemala attack prominent Jews here by name, calling attention to various anti-Semitic canards like the false “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and other such literature. The letters advise that these books “should be brought to Guatemala by the truckload.” Leading book stores are carrying some of these books, which have evidently been shipped here from Mexico.

Clemente Marroquin Rojas, publisher of an evening paper, is featuring articles which he had written making such fantastic charges as that “the Jews displace the Indians from their lands by building weekend houses for themselves,” He also attacks the Jews in the United States and asserts in one of his articles that “the only statesman who knew how to defend the Western world from Communism was Hitler.”