Expulsion Order Against Jewish Pedlars in Guatemala Withdrawn

The Guatemalan Government has withdrawn the order of expulsion which it issued recently affecting a large number of Jewish pedlars.

This information is conveyed in a letter addressed by the Guatemalan Minister to the United States, Mr. Adrian Recinos, to Mr. Isidore Hershfield, the Washington representative of the Hias.

Previously M. Recinos had refused to receive in personal audience either Mr. Hershfield or Mr. M. D. Rosenberg, representative of the B’nai B’rith, and Mr. Hershfield, therefore, made his representations in writing.

The expulsion order was issued in the form of a law, signed by the President of the Republic and effective as of February 1st., 1932. As soon as the expulsion order was made known here through the J.T.A. steps were taken on behalf of the Jews of Guatemala by the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress as well as the Hias and the B’nai B’rith.

The text of the Guatemalan Minister’s letter is as follows:

Referring to our previous correspondence relative to conditions in Guatemala, concerning pedlars whose expulsion had been ordered in a law recently passed, I beg to say that I have just received a communication from my Government informing me that the expulsion of pedlars will not be carried into effect, as the Government reserves this right to be exercised only in special cases against pernicious elements. From how on, pedlars will be obliged to dedicate themselves to legitimate business and to establish themselves in legal form in the country.

Mr. Hershfield has replied to the letter expressing confidence “that our Government will find that your Jewish residents are an element of your population which has contributed and will contribute in substantial measure to the growth, prosperity and general welfare of Guaremala.”