The conversation was carried out in a completely friendly and frank
atmosphere and the President’s attitude was in sharp contrast to that of
last November when he lashed out at United Fruit and became notably
agitated when discussing the possibility of attending the Caracas
Conference1 while the Perez Jiménez regime “tortured and killed” his
friends.
Enclosure
Memorandum of Conversation, by the First Secretary
of the Embassy in Costa Rica (Stewart)
confidential
- Participants: President Figueres
- Ambassador Hill
- First Secretary Stewart
President José Figueres
expressed a desire to talk with Ambassador Hill following his return from the
United States and on February 6 a meeting was held at the Casa
Presidencial.
Congressional Attitude Toward Figueres
Ambassador Hill expressed his
pleasure at being back in Costa Rica and told the President he would
be pleased to give him his impressions of the visit to Washington if
the President was interested. He said he was considerably surprised
by the attitude of certain Congressmen who criticized President
Figueres for his stand on
United Fruit Company and the failure of Costa Rica to make its stand
known on attending the Caracas Conference. The President’s views on
private investment, as published in the New
Leader and made during the presidential campaign,
Ambassador Hill said, caused
resentment in certain congressional circles.
The President listened attentively, and when Ambassador Hill was finished said he was glad
to receive this frank information. He stated that his feeling toward
private investment was completely misunderstood in the United States
and was due in a large measure to the title put on the New Leader article. He pulled out a letter
written to
[Page 837]
that magazine,
mildly complaining that his heading, “A Bold New Program,” had been
changed to “We Do Not Want Foreign Investments.” In the letter he
asked the magazine to publish excerpts from his inaugural address to
clarify his position.
“For us to not want private investment would be completely crazy,”
the President said.
He then went on to say that a liberal government such as his would
always be criticized by certain Congressmen and others of an
extremely conservative bent. He said he realized that his socially
inclined government would be accused of being communistic. “I do not
get mad at them,” the President stated. “One has to be very patient
with those kind of people, who generally mean well.” He stated that
he was convinced that there were no more than five per cent of this
type of thinkers who really thought U.S. business should completely
control Latin America.
Inter-American Highway
The Ambassador then outlined in detail the thinking of the House
Appropriations Committee on the Inter-American Highway. He said that
during his testimony before this group that the chairman was openly
hostile to appropriating further funds for the road. A more moderate
member (Rep. Frank Bow, Ohio), suggested that a
sub-committee from the group visit Costa Rica to see the highway and
that he (the Ambassador) had forwarded an invitation asking it to
come sometime in February.
The President said he was very anxious to have the group visit Costa
Rica. Not only would it see what great strides were taken by the
Public Roads Administration but also it would give him an
opportunity to set the boys straight on his economic philosophy. The
President stated that he would personally devote much of his time to
the sub-committee during its visit in Costa Rica.
International Bank Loans
The President was interested in news from the International Bank on a
$15,000,000 loan for Costa Rica. Ambassador Hill stated that he had talked with
Eugene Black, President
of IBRD, who expressed interest in
the affair and planned to visit Costa Rica around February 25.
The President was pleased to hear this and at the Ambassador’s
suggestion promised to instruct his various ministers to have
detailed studies available for the IBRD head. The President reiterated that he wanted the
loan for (1) hydroelectric projects; (2) improvement of secondary
roads, and (3) for refinancing and completion of the El Coco
airport.
Plans are drawn for the hydroelectric projects. The President’s idea
regarding secondary roads is to use $2,500,000 for improving some
2,000 kilometers of roads now in use. He said that most of these
[Page 838]
feeder roads were
impassable in wet weather and terribly dusty in the dry months. By
surfacing them they would become all-weather arteries and enable
farmers and ranchers to reach the main highways.
The President confirmed what everybody knows at present: the El Coco
airport cannot be finished until the government obtains more money.
This is a field that will replace the present La Sabana airport in
San José, which accommodates nothing larger than two-engine
planes.
The President repeated that Black’s visit would give him a chance to set the
record straight on his feeling toward private investment in this
country.
United Fruit Company
The President was asked about the United Fruit situation and he began
by saying that he had had to settle the strike which tied up
operations in the Puerto González area for some
weeks. He said negotiations for revision of the present contracts
were progressing favorably both in San José and in Washington. The
company representative here, Walter Hamer, was
in contact with Minister of Finance Jorge
Rossi, and the latter had received the terms of the
Baggett offer the day before. He added that
Foreign Minister Mario
Esquivel and Sam Baggett,
general counsel of United Fruit, had met several times in
Washington.
The President seemed quite pleased that negotiations were moving
along and the Ambassador and Stewart had a
feeling the company and government were not too far apart on the
financial aspects of an agreement. Figueres indicated that the company was willing to
waive exemption on several items now imported duty-free and he
stated that the government would impose a ridiculously small duty on
such items as fertilizer, materials for insecticides, etc. The
President quite contentedly said this would be the beginning of an
ending of discriminations in favor of United Fruit Company, but he
said the period of transition would continue for some years.
The President’s reasoned attitude and apparent delight that United
Fruit was cooperating satisfactorily in the negotiations contrasted
greatly with that of a few months ago, when he bitterly complained
of a “country within a country,” and described
Baggett as a “fiera.”
The President said he was still studying a reply to United Fruit’s
letter2 of last month. In view of Ambassador Hill’s adverse report on the
feeling toward him on Capitol Hill, he said he
would re-state his attitude on nationalization as well as rights of
private investment, and investment itself, when he made his
reply.
[Page 839]
Both Ambassador Hill and the
writer were completely astounded by all the sweetness and light. All
of it could not have been the result of February 6 being his wedding
day.
Dominican Charges
President Figueres said
Trujillo’s charges of
harboring communists was part of a campaign by the dictators to
discredit his government. However, he said that Luis
Alberto Monge, ORIT
Secretary General, had reported that the communists planned to
concentrate their labor activities in Costa Rica and Chile and to
that end, planned to bring into his country some 20 agitators. The
President said Trujillo
might have got wind of this move. In any event, the President
stated, he would welcome any information Trujillo had and a close watch
would be kept on commie activity in the country.
Caracas Conference
With regard to the Caracas Conference, the President said that his
country would make its decision about attendance when Foreign
Minister Esquivel returned
from his trip to the United States. Esquivel was expected in San José around February
10.
The President inquired whether there was any indication that the
Perez Jiménez regime
would release all political prisoners before the meeting was held.
He was told that there was no such indication and it was the
Embassy’s opinion that any move of this nature would not occur. He
said he had heard no more than 200 prisoners were released in the
New Year’s amnesty and asked whether we had received any estimate.
He was told his estimate was higher than ours.
The President was told that the U.S. would present some rather
far-reaching economic proposals at the conference and that the
Guatemalan situation undoubtedly would be aired. The presence of
Costa Rica at the conference would be important in view of these
topics, the President was told.
The President made no comment except to state that morality in the
hemisphere was at a pretty low ebb at this time.
Lack of Latin American Statesmen
The report of Labor Minister Juan Lechin’s
resignation from the Bolivian cabinet was brought to the President’s
attention and he said this development might weaken the Paz Estenssoro government. However,
he said, the government would be better off with
Lechín in an opposition role, as long as it
didn’t bring about Paz’
downfall. As in the past, he spoke deprecatingly of
Lechín, crediting him with little
intelligence. “He was just a football player,” said the President,
which got a big laugh from a couple of broken-down U.S.
athletes.
Seriously speaking, the President declared, statesmanship in Latin
America was at a pretty low ebb at this time. [Here follow personal
remarks.]
