◆ SpookStack

incident which could have had serious repercussions, including possible loss of Guatemalan and US lives and the closing out of the training bases in Guatemala. The unfortunate situation seems to have occurred, in part at least, because of the inability of Agency personnel to communicate in Spanish with their Guate- malan hosts. Col. Antonio Batres had requested per- mission to enter the JMADD signal center in order to transmit a message. Batres was not only Chief of Guatemalan Air Force operations, he was also the personal pilot of President Ydigoras. The Agency officer in charge of the communications center had delayed Col. Batres a moment in order to secure sensi- tive materials in the area. According to the report to Headquarters, Batres thought that he was being denied access to the commo facilities which he appar- ently had utilized previously; and he departed the scen&, only to return again with Roberto Alejos, half a dozen Guatemalan soldiers, and the commander of the Guatemalan security guard at JMADD. Alejos also was told that he would have to wait for a few minutes while the area was made secure -- at which pcint Alejos, accompanied by the commander of the Guatemalan guard