Roberto Alejos Arzu

[John Simkin]

After graduating from San Jose State University in 1960 he went into public relations and in the early 1970s Michael Deaver worked for Ronald Reagan, when he was governor of California.

Deaver co-founded the public relations company, Deaver and Hannaford in 1975. The company "booked Reagan's public appearances, research and sell his radio program, and ghost-write his syndicated column." Peter Dale Scott claims that "all this was arranged with an eye to Reagan's presidential aspirations, which Deaver and Hannaford helped organize from the outset".

In 1977 Deaver and Hannaford registered with the Justice Department as foreign agents receiving $5,000 a month from the government of Taiwan. It also received $11,000 a month from a group called Amigos del Pais (Friends of the Country) in Guatemala. The head of Amigos del Pais was Roberto Alejos Arzu. He was the principal organizer of Guatemala's "Reagan for President" organization. Arzu was a CIA asset who in 1960 allowed his plantation to be used to train Cuban exiles for the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Peter Dale Scott has argued that Deaver began raising money for Ronald Reagan and his presidential campaign from some of his Guatemalan clients. This included Amigos del Pais. One BBC report estimated that this money amounted to around ten million dollars. Villagran Kramer claimed that several members of this organization were "directly linked with organized terror".

Does anyone know anything more about Arzu? This is his entry on Namebase:

Guatemala 1960-1984 Cuba 1961

Anderson,S.& J. Inside the League. 1986 (175, 183)

Brewton,P. The Mafia, CIA, and George Bush. 1992 (366)

Colby,G. Dennett,C. Thy Will Be Done. 1995 (412)

Covert Action Information Bulletin 1981-#12 (16, 19-20)

Covert Action Information Bulletin 1986-#25 (36)

DeCamp,J. The Franklin Cover-up. 1994 (180)

Escalante,F. The Secret War. 1995 (48, 161)

Hunt,H. Give Us This Day. 1973 (11, 27, 117)

Lernoux,P. People of God. 1989 (295)

Marshall,J... The Iran-Contra Connection. 1987 (53)

NACLA. Latin America and Empire Report 1976-09 (25)

National Reporter 1986-W (57, 60)

Operation Zapata: Bay of Pigs Testimony. 1984 (75)

Prados,J. Presidents' Secret Wars. 1988 (182)

Prouty,L.F. JFK. 1992 (126)

Sklar,H. Washington's War on Nicaragua. 1988 (83, 240)

Smith,J.B. Portrait of a Cold Warrior. 1981 (339)

Tully,A. CIA: The Inside Story. 1962 (246)

Washington Post 1984-12-27 (A1, 25)

Wise,D. Ross,T. The Invisible Government. 1974 (23-8, 41)

Wyden,P. Bay of Pigs. 1979 (35)

[James Richards]

John,

In 1965, Alejos was behind this plot to overthrow the Guatemalan government by using a group of Cubans led by Luis Sierra Lopez. A man by the name of Armando Medina who was a member of this group said that Gerry Hemming was the one who flew Alejos to Guatemala.

If I remember correctly, Medina was offered quite a sum to hand Alejos over to the Guatemalan authorities.

FWIW.

James