BY FRANCES ROBLES

 Americans in Guatemala were warned this week that the U.S. State Department has received "credible threats'' that violent attacks might be planned against American citizens in a colonial tourist town near the capital.

 The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala advised Wednesday that Americans in Antigua, 30 miles east of Guatemala City, could be targets of violent attacks following staged robberies or auto accidents.

 Americans, the State Department communique said, should take proper precautions and avoid any situation that seems unusual or potentially dangerous.

 The travel advisory did not say where the threat originated, or whether it was related to terrorism attacks of Sept. 11.

 But it sent shock waves through Antigua's American community.

 Local residents say only about 100 U.S. citizens live there permanently, but their numbers are swollen by Americans among the ranks of the 2,500 or foreign students studying at the town's 60 Spanish-language schools. ``They basically told us not to leave our houses,'' said Elizabeth Bell, an American tour guide who has lived in Guatemala since 1969.

 ``This is ridiculous. This came completely out of the air.''

 Embassy spokeswoman Kay Webb Mayfield said Saturday that the tip came to the embassy late Wednesday, and was ``specific enough and detailed enough'' to be
 taken seriously.

 She would not reveal how the embassy obtained the information, but said ``a plan existed and people knew about it.''

 She said the embassy's regional security team and Guatemala's National Civil Police are investigating. Police said they know little about the alleged threats.

 ``We have no information that points to dangers for U.S. citizens there,'' said police spokesman Ricardo Gatica, adding that the area is one of the country's safest. ``That was strictly the embassy's announcement.''

 About 7,000 Americans live in Guatemala, and another 180,000 visit each year.

 The move had an instant repercussions.

 ```The streets are empty,'' said Jay Ridinger, an American gem store owner there.

 Bell said five tour groups, 100 travelers in all, canceled Friday.

 ``The response to this has been worse than Sept. 11,'' Bell said. ``I am not afraid. I am annoyed.''

 She and other Americans were particularly incensed because the embassy did not share how they came upon the information, or say how thoroughly it was investigated before made public.

 Several people said Saturday that calls to the embassy's consul general went unreturned.

 ``We are up in arms,'' said Maria Elena Streicher, manager of Ridinger's gem shop. ``We need to know: do we go back to our points of origin? I'm from Iowa. Do I go back to the farm?''
 
 
 
 

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