Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXXII, Dominican Republic; Cuba; Haiti; Guyana

404. Memorandum From Gordon Chase of the National Security Council Staff to the Presidentʼs Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)¹

Washington, February 08, 1965.

SUBJECT

• British Guiana and Cuba

1. [1½ lines of source text not declassified]² there is a note of optimism in BG these days, even among East Indians; [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] the Governor is pleasantly surprised by Burnhamʼs performance thus far, and [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] the two men seem to be getting along quite well with each other; [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] we can expect the PPP to come up with some kind of shennanigans during Greenwoodʼs visit to BG,³ now scheduled for about February 12–15.

2. [7 lines of source text not declassified]

3. BG Rice Exports—There is a glut of rice in BG these days and we are working [less than 1 line of source text not declassified]⁴ on ways of moving some of it into the export market. This is important; as you may recall, one of Cheddiʼs major claims during the campaign was that only the PPP was able to dispose of BG rice (grown primarily by East Indians).

[Omitted here is material unrelated to British Guiana.]

GC

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, British Guiana, Vol. III, Memos, 12/64–11/65. Secret; Eyes Only.
2. [text not declassified] British Guiana, visited the country January 16–19. He did not meet with Burnham during this trip, but did meet with him on February 3 in New York. Burnham was en route to British Guiana from the United Kingdom, where he met the new Colonial Secretary, Anthony Greenwood, whom Burnham found “not as pro-Jagan as he had originally assumed.” (Memorandum to Cobb, February 4; Department of State, INR/IL Historical Files, Carlson—Department [file name not declassified], Vol. 2, 10/2/64–12/31/64)
3. [text not declassified] reported PPP intentions “to assume a more aggressive attitude” toward the new Burnham government. (Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, British Guiana, Vol. III, Memos, 12/64–11/65)
4. In a February 26 memorandum to Deputy Director Helms, Assistant Secretary Tyler requested [text not declassified] on a project involving the disbursement of up to $550,000 to subsidize the clandestine purchase of 5,000 tons of rice from British Guiana. (Department of State,INR/IL Historical Files, British Guiana White House Meetings)