John Gordon Mein

John Gordon Mein (born September 10, 1913 in Cadiz , Trigg County , Kentucky , † August 28, 1968 in Guatemala City ) was an ambassador to the United States .

Life

In early 1959, Mein headed the Southwest Pacific Division at the State Department. In 1964, my deputy to the US Ambassador to Brazil was Lincoln Gordon . Under the motto islands of administrative sanity , the US government tried to isolate João Goulart's government in Brazil. On the one hand, the US government's economic aid to the Brazilian federal government was interrupted. On the other hand, designated opponents among the state governors were supported with up to 100 million dollars . Mine was allowed to sign a military assistance pact with the Foreign Minister General João Augusto de Araújo Castro.

During the tenure of John Gordon Mein, helicopter dropping of suspects was introduced in Guatemala as a measure of asymmetrical warfare . In March 1968, Mario Casariego y Acevedo was kidnapped in a false flag campaign . As a result, Julio César Méndez Montenegro appointed three high-ranking military officials involved as ambassadors.

John Gordon Mein was shot dead on Avenida Reforma . It is believed that an attempt by the Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes to kidnap him failed.

Individual evidence

^ David W. Dent, US-Latin American policymaking: a reference handbook
^ William Blum, Killing hope: US military and CIA interventions since World War II
↑ The murder of the American Ambassador, however, provoked renewed public calls for more, tough counter-insurgency measures, ensured a reinvigorated flow of US security assistance, and triggered a rash of "death-squad" killings under the aegis of the new Defense Minister, Colonel Rolando Chinchilla Aguillar and army chief of staff Colonell Doroteo Reyes. Before the Mein killing there is some record of terrorist assaults and bombings attributed to the FAR having been carried out by Guatemalan security services as a deliberate means to discredit the guerrilla movement, and to justify to the public extraordinary counter-insurgency measures. These were particularly frequent in the first months of 1966. United States counter-insurgency doctrine, moreover, provides for the legetimate use of such tactics to induce the public to accept subsequent harsh measures. That such actions might be extended to include clandestine actions against US personnel or property is conceivable in so far as the perpetrators could be assured that blame would be placed squarely on the leftist insurgents. In June 1966 National Security Advisor Walt Whitman Rostow brought to the attention of President Lyndon B. Johnson a cable from John Gordon Mein (dated 15 June) which advised the Department of State that he had learned of impending assassination attempts against both himself and German Ambassador Count Karl von Spreti. Ambassador Mein downplayed the urgency of the threat, although he said he had no doubts, of its authenticity. What is important, in the light of subsequent events, is that Mein insisted the threat probably came from the right not the left. The matter was taken extremely seriously in Washington: Rostow's memorandum to Johnson, with the cable attached, was on the President's desk the same day it left Guatemala City. On 31 March 1970 Karl Graf von Spreti was kidnapped when his car was intercepted by armed men. A ransom demand was made in the name of the FAR the group to which responsibility for John Gordon Mein's murder had been attributed. The kidnappers demanded the release first of 17, then 25 political prisoners (whose names were never made public) and $ 700,000 ransom. The government outraged the diplomatic corps, and the German government, by refusing to negotiate. On 9 April an anonymous telephone call informed the Papal Nuncio that Count Von Spreti had been shot, and his body could be found at kilometer 17 on the road to San Pedro. 134 Von Spreti was found shot once in the head. Unlike the killing of the American Ambassador, there were no claims that anyone apart from the FAR guerilla themselves was involved. This, moreover, was the third in a series of spectacular kidnappings. Michael McClintock, The American connection
↑ Time , Sep. 06, 1968, Guatemala: Caught in the Crossfire

predecessor	Office	successor
John O. Bell	U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala September 22, 1965 to August 28, 1968	Nathaniel Davis

personal data
SURNAME	Mine, John Gordon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH	September 10, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cadiz , Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH	August 28, 1968
Place of death	Guatemala City

[1] David W. Dent, US-Latin American policymaking: a reference handbook

[2] William Blum, Killing hope: US military and CIA interventions since World War II

[3] The murder of the American Ambassador, however, provoked renewed public calls for more, tough counter-insurgency measures, ensured a reinvigorated flow of US security assistance, and triggered a rash of "death-squad" killings under the aegis of the new Defense Minister, Colonel Rolando Chinchilla Aguillar and army chief of staff Colonell Doroteo Reyes. Before the Mein killing there is some record of terrorist assaults and bombings attributed to the FAR having been carried out by Guatemalan security services as a deliberate means to discredit the guerrilla movement, and to justify to the public extraordinary counter-insurgency measures. These were particularly frequent in the first months of 1966. United States counter-insurgency doctrine, moreover, provides for the legetimate use of such tactics to induce the public to accept subsequent harsh measures. That such actions might be extended to include clandestine actions against US personnel or property is conceivable in so far as the perpetrators could be assured that blame would be placed squarely on the leftist insurgents. In June 1966 National Security Advisor Walt Whitman Rostow brought to the attention of President Lyndon B. Johnson a cable from John Gordon Mein (dated 15 June) which advised the Department of State that he had learned of impending assassination attempts against both himself and German Ambassador Count Karl von Spreti. Ambassador Mein downplayed the urgency of the threat, although he said he had no doubts, of its authenticity. What is important, in the light of subsequent events, is that Mein insisted the threat probably came from the right not the left. The matter was taken extremely seriously in Washington: Rostow's memorandum to Johnson, with the cable attached, was on the President's desk the same day it left Guatemala City. On 31 March 1970 Karl Graf von Spreti was kidnapped when his car was intercepted by armed men. A ransom demand was made in the name of the FAR the group to which responsibility for John Gordon Mein's murder had been attributed. The kidnappers demanded the release first of 17, then 25 political prisoners (whose names were never made public) and $ 700,000 ransom. The government outraged the diplomatic corps, and the German government, by refusing to negotiate. On 9 April an anonymous telephone call informed the Papal Nuncio that Count Von Spreti had been shot, and his body could be found at kilometer 17 on the road to San Pedro. 134 Von Spreti was found shot once in the head. Unlike the killing of the American Ambassador, there were no claims that anyone apart from the FAR guerilla themselves was involved. This, moreover, was the third in a series of spectacular kidnappings. Michael McClintock, The American connection

[4] Time , Sep. 06, 1968, Guatemala: Caught in the Crossfire

John Gordon Mein

Life

See also

Individual evidence