611.31/8–1754
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Holland)
Subject:
- Venezuelan Relations with Costa Rica and the United States
- Participants: Dr. César González, Ambassador of Venezuela
- Assistant Secretary Henry F. Holland
I had lunch with Ambassador González on Tuesday, August 17. He made the following statements:
President Pérez Jiménez fears that the United States may have decided to adopt an increasingly unfriendly attitude toward Venezuela. He interprets a number of recent events as possibly indicating this:
- 1.
- Our recent assistance to Costa Rica in the face of attacks from Nicaragua.
- 2.
- The fact that a picture was taken of me at the airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in which Gonzalo Facio and Padre Nuñez, both Costa Ricans identified with Figueres, appeared.
- 3.
- A newspaper report from Puerto Rico quoting me as having said that the United States would consult Muñoz Marín,1 widely known as a friend of Figueres, in all of its policies with respect to Latin America, and that wherever Muñoz Marín travels he is to be considered an Ambassador of the United States as well as of Puerto Rico.
- 4.
- The fact that Betancourt is reported to be now in Puerto Rico and has announced an intention to come to New York for a month.
- 5.
- The fact that Betancourt was in Puerto Rico at about the same time that I was.
I explained the occasion for my trip to Puerto Rico. I explained that Nuñez and Facio were guests of the Puerto Rican Government, and that I had not known they were going to be there when I was. The fact that I appeared in the same picture with them was because Nuñez was leaving on the same plane for New York and Facio had come to the airport to see him off. The quotations attributed to me were inaccurate. A reporter had asked at the airport whether in its inter-American relations the United States would take into consideration the comments of Governor Muñoz Marín. I had replied that, of course, we would. I pointed out that Betancourt had not arrived in Puerto Rico until after my departure; that we had no knowledge of any plan on his part to come to New York, and that he had only a visitor’s visa.
I went on to say that there was every reason for the United States to have friendly relations with Venezuela; that it was an outstanding example of private enterprise and respect for private property; that it would be the policy of the United States in this hemisphere to take [Page 1671] more and more into consideration its relations with such leading countries as Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico. I pointed out that, as I had already explained to him, our interest in the Costa Rican problem was in the prevention of any disorder in Central America at this time and in the protection of a constitutionally elected administration.
González said that I would have to understand the situation prevailing in Venezuela. The Government is a military dictatorship and the President is always fearful of its stability. Pedro Estrada has the mentality of a policeman and has to preserve an atmosphere of suspicion and vigilance in order to justify his own position in the Government. The President’s naturally suspicious nature makes him accept Estrada’s interpretations of events.
González hopes that eventually Venezuela will outgrow its military dictatorship, but feels that, for the present, the Government is doing much for the country and that Pérez Jiménez himself is better equipped to govern than anyone else currently in the picture.
González urges that if the United States will confer a decoration on Pérez Jiménez all of his current resentments and suspicions will disappear. He urges that we consider doing so, and that, if we decide that we can decorate him, we send a General to Caracas to do it. He also says that he would like to bring Pérez Jiménez to the United States on a visit.
I agreed to find out the whereabouts of Betancourt, and to look into the problem of the decoration.
I took up with González a statement made to me earlier in the day by Ambassador Facio of Costa Rica that his Government would like to make its relations with Venezuela more friendly. He said that if the suggestion came from the United States it would be interpreted in Caracas as further evidence of a desire on our part to favor Costa Rica. On the other hand, he said that if Ambassador Facio would take the matter up with him direct, he could and would collaborate fully.
- Luis Muñoz Marín, Governor of Puerto Rico.↩