GUATEMALA EXPERIMENTS 1946-1948 
II 
in carrying on with our own compound [orvus-mapharsen] at the proper 
time.” 247 While further specifics of the Penitentiary program are unclear, 
records show that 139 prisoners received some form of treatment for an STD. 
Of these, 92 were prisoners whom the researchers intentionally exposed. 248 
Later, when Dr. Cutler departed from Guatemala in 1948, the Director of 
Medical Services for the Penitentiary, Dr. Roberto Robles Chinchilla, wrote 
to give Dr. Cutler “our everlasting gratitude which will remain for ever [sic] in 
our hearts, because of your noble and gentlemanly way with which you have 
alleviated the sufferings of the guards and prisoners of this penitentiary.” 249 
While Dr. Cutler did not discuss the treatment program in the Asilo de Alien- 
ados (Psychiatric Hospital) in his final reports, records show that the researchers 
treated a total of 334 psychiatric subjects for an STD. Of them, 328 were 
subjects whom the researchers intentionally exposed at one point or another. 250 
The researchers fostered goodwill and cooperation in other ways as well. In 
January 1947, Dr. Cutler arranged for serology testing supplies to be sent from 
the VDRL on Staten Island to the Ministry of Public Health in Guatemala. 251 
The researchers also provided training for Guatemalan laboratory personnel and 
established collaborative and mutually beneficial professional relationships with 
many Guatemalan medical personnel. Among these, the researchers developed 
a particularly close rapport with Dr. Carlos E. Tejeda, Colonel and Chief of 
the Guatemalan Army Medical Department. Dr. Tejeda visited Dr. Mahoney 
on Staten Island in October 1946, shortly after Dr. Cutler arrived, and later 
worked with the researchers on all three of the inoculation experiments. 252 After 
Dr. Tejedas visit to New York, Dr. Cutler confided to Dr. Mahoney that Dr. 
Tejeda “appreciated [Dr. Mahoney’s] attention” and was “very much interested 
in our study.” 253 Consequently, the researchers were “counting on real coop- 
eration from the [Guatemalan] Army.” 254 When Dr. Tejeda’s wife fell ill that 
autumn, Dr. Cutler relayed his and Dr. Spoto’s opinion that “it [would] be a 
very good move” for PHS to supply Dr. Tejeda with the scarce medication his 
wife needed, which they did, “although it did arrive too late.” 255 
In addition, in the Psychiatric Hospital, the researchers developed a close 
relationship with the director, Dr. Carlos Salvado. He later received an offer 
to work as a fellow in the United States, and also became a paid employee 
of the Venereal Disease Division to facilitate “continuing observations” of 
35 
