Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 52. (2007)
AGSTNER, Rudolf: Austria(-Hungary) and her diplomatic and consular missions in Mexico and Guatemala
new embassy for the Central American states be established in Guatemala City. He cited five reasons in favor of his proposal:120 • the presence of the Austrian school, which was attended by children of the ruling political elite • the Atitlan electrification project • a grant from Steyr Daimler Puch • the Jurun Marinala power station • the agricultural training project in Cantel. Another interesting point was that enthusiastic Austrians under the leadership of honorary consul Ippisch and the Latin-America-Institute in Vienna disbursed large amounts of taxpayer’s money for several development projects, evading any control by the Austrian government on how these funds were used. This was particularly true in the case of the Austrian school whose legal status then was in limbo. However, nothing happened during the next three years. On February 2, 1970, Dr. Udo Ehrlich-Adam, counsellor at the Austrian embassy in Mexico City, was made “interim head of the new embassy to be established in Guatemala in the capacity of chargé d’affaires ad interim.” In the interim, the Austrian ambassador in Mexico remained accredited to Guatemala. Ehrlich-Adam arrived in Guatemala City on March 28, 1970,121 which date would have to be considered the birthday of the Austrian embassy in Guatemala. Ehrlich- Adam started to operate in the hotel “Camino Real”. He informed the Foreign Ministry of Guatemala and the diplomatic missions in Guatemala City of his arrival and of the address “Camino Real” as provisional address of the new Austrian embassy Guatemala City.122 Three days after his arrival, the situation changed dramatically. Count Karl Spreti, ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, was pulled out of his official car and abducted in bright daylight. The government of Guatemala refused to pay the ransom demanded by the hijackers, and after a captivity of 5 days Spreti’s corpse was found on March 5, 1970 in Guatemala City. It was definitely not the right time and place to open a new Austrian embassy. Ehrlich-Adam received instructions on April 7, 1970, to return to Mexico City until further notice. Officially, he was to return to brief the ambassador in Mexico City on the situation in Guatemala. The project to establish a diplomatic presence in Guatemala was soon abandoned. On April 14, 1970 the Austrian Council of Ministers had taken note of an oral report by the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, according to which the Austrian charge d’affaires intended to stay in Guatemala City for the time being123 Austria(-Hungary) and her diplomatic and consular missions in Mexico and Guatemala 120 Austrian Foreign Ministry archive, Mexico City 753-A/67 of March 23, 1967. 121 Austrian Foreign Ministry archive NAP Ehrlich-Adam 13.772-la/70 of April 27, 1970. 122 I d e m, Austrian Embassy Guatemala 10-AS/70 of April 1, 1970. 123 Protocol 157th session of the Council of Ministers of April 14, 1970, item 33. 313
