Exchange of Messages Between the President and President Ydigoras Fuentes on U .S. Naval Aid to Guatemala.

Note: The message from President Ydigoras Fuentes follows:

His Excellency

DWIGHT D. Eisenhower

I take pleasure in sending you the cordial greetings and the great gratitude of the people and government of Guatemala for the effective aid you were good enough to grant by ordering a watch on the seas adjacent to Central America by units of the glorious United States Navy, which prevented outside forces from giving support to the Communist-inspired revolutionary movement which, in connection with Fidel Castro, broke out in Guatemala on the thirteenth of the current month in order to overthrow the constitutional and anti-Communist Government over which I have the honor to preside.

This watch you ordered was decisive in stopping the development of the movement and greater bloodshed in my country and preventing eventual establishment of a new Communist government in the Americas.

The people of Guatemala, my Government, and I personally reiterate our friendship and gratitude to the great people of the United States, to its democratic government, and its illustrious President.
MIGUEL YDIGORAS FUENTES

In a White House release dated December 7 it was noted that in response to requests by the governments of Guatemala and Nicaragua the United States had announced on November 17 that "surface and air units are in a position in which they could assist the governments, should it become necessary, to seek out and prevent intervention on the part of Communist-directed elements in the internal affairs of Guatemala and Nicaragua through the landing of armed forces or supplies from abroad." The December 7 release further noted that the emergency which led to their request had passed and that all participating naval surface and air units had been ordered to return to normal operations.