[Attachment]
Extracts4
From Secret Letter, Dated December 8, 1954,
From Ambassador Fletcher
Warren, Caracas, Venezuela, to Rollin S. Atwood,
Director, Office of South American Affairs
1. Decoration of President
Pérez Jiménez
“It has been brought home to us from all quarters that the decoration
of the President5 has proven to be the most popular event
in
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Venezuelan-American
relations in many, many years. We hear the same story of its good
effects from Americans of all classes and businesses, from
Venezuelans and from other foreigners (with the exception of our
British friends). The other day President Pérez Jiménez expressed his
appreciation of the decoration to Secretary Humphrey, requested the Secretary
to convey to President Eisenhower
Pérez Jiménez’ grateful and
respectful thanks, and added that although he (Pérez Jiménez) appreciated
receiving the decoration because it came to him as an individual, it
was really important because every Venezuelan felt that he had been
decorated when his President received the award. I’m surprised at
how near to the truth I think the President came. We thought the
decoration was in the best interest of Uncle
Sam, as we told you and Henry Holland. The results were
much better than even we expected.”
2. Rio Conference
The Ambassador and his deputy, in working on the Rio Conference,
found: “that the Venezuelans were against the Chilean plan for an
International Bank, that to their surprise they are finding
themselves, by force of favorable circumstances, closer and closer
to our views on many things, particularly in the field of finance
and banking. Dr. Silvio Gutierrez6
returned from Rio with the highest praise for Henry Holland and the other members
of the American Delegation, saying they could not have been more
helpful and cooperative with the Venezuelans, and that he was going
to tell President Pérez
Jiménez that the relations between the United States
and Venezuela had never been better than they are today.”
3. Popular Support for President
Pérez Jiménez
“As an American schooled in Texan politics, my guess would be that if
an honest election were held today, he would be re-elected. However,
if he continues the drive, the intelligent expenditure of money, and
the concentration on specific goals during the next two years that
he has exhibited in the past, he should be overwhelmingly re-elected
whenever the time for that election arrives. It looks to us in the
Embassy that he is more firmly in the saddle today than he has ever
been. He is just beginning to savour the sweetness that is a
politician’s when he first begins to feel the warmth of popular
support. The other day when the crowd picked him up and carried him
on its shoulders at one of the ceremonies, I am told that the little
man remarked, ‘I am beginning to believe that the Venezuelans like
me because of what I am’.”
[Here follows discussion of the efforts of other executive
departments to develop or to expand their foreign service
operations.]
