541 205-74

and to get the gun and ammunition into the
country. A letter written by.Hall on the
26th of November proved to be only an intro-
duction to getting the permit although he
said that we would like to have the permit
sent to Barrios so that I could take care
of matters there when I arrived. When I
called the Ministerio de Defensa Nacional,
he said that the permit had been resolved
and that I was to check with the Ministerio
de Relaciones Exterior (State Department

or like Office of International Relations)
at the National Palace where the permit

was being approved. I do not think that
Ministerio of Defensa Nacional had even
written out the permit nor did he think
that I could reach the M. de R. E. before
he had a chance to make one out but I did
get to see the M. de R. E. and found out
that he had never heard anything about such
a permit! It was five minutes to noon,
Friday and at that time he could not get

in touch with the M. de D. N. so asked if

I would not return Monday at ten o'clock.
Arriving in Guatemala City on a weekend,
complicated matters considerably. The
American Embassy closed Friday at four

and could not be of help until Monday.
Imagine hours from 10 - 12 and 2 to 4 with
Saturday and Sunday and all holidays off}
in visiting the various offices of the
Guatemala Government, I found an anxiety
and confusion which to me spells instability.
This observation is proving true as I
receive information from different sources.
I did not believe Docking in Lawrence when
he told me that the country was unstable
as based on the stock market, but I find
now that the country is far from stable;
that there is an underground movement ;

that many people easily understood except