Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, American Republics, Volume V

82. Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Rubottom) to the Acting Secretary of State¹

Washington, July 15, 1959.

SUBJECT

• Meeting of Foreign Ministers of American States

Discussion:

The Council of the OAS approved on July 13, under the Charter of the Organization of American States, a Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of American Republics to consider the current Caribbean situation.²

Site of Meeting:

The Chilean Ambassador has offered in the name of his government the city of Santiago as the site for the meeting. The possibility of the meeting being held at Washington at the headquarters of the OAS (at the Pan American Union) has also been mentioned, and has been favored by some countries because they believe there is less likelihood in Washington for political disturbance in connection with the meeting. There appears, however, to be a majority which would favor Santiago, but this will not be decided by the Council of the OAS until its meeting Friday, July 17.³

Date of Meeting:

If Santiago were selected as the site Chile would be ready to have the meeting any time after August 3, but wishes to keep this flexible in order to allow for the attendance of the U.S. Secretary of State. The U.S. has expressed its feeling of urgency in this whole matter and would not consider it appropriate to delay the meeting beyond August 10.

Agenda of the Meeting:

Formulation of the agenda of the meeting is now in process in the Council of the OAS. The proposed list of topics which the four co-sponsors of the resolution convoking the meeting of Foreign Ministers have jointly worked out is attached.⁴ It is certain that there will be an attempt to add additional items to this list, and it cannot be determined at this time how the agenda may finally turn out. ARA believes that the attached draft adequately treats the matters of interest to the U.S. and that the all-important subject of Communism can best be brought into the discussion by the Secretary at the Conference without having it as a separate item on the agenda. The U.S. representative in a statement before the Council of the OAS has already mentioned the Communist problem.⁵ The U.S. representative will resist efforts to expand the draft agenda to bring in other matters not related to the urgent Caribbean situation.

1. Source: Department of State, S/S–NSC (Miscellaneous) Files: Lot 66 D 95, NSC 5902 Memoranda. Official Use Only. Drafted by Luboeansky.
2. The request for the meeting was contained in a resolution sponsored by Brazil, Chile, Peru, and the United States; for text, see Council of the Organization of American States, Decisions Taken at the Meetings, January–December 1959, vol. XII (Washington, 1964), p. 136.
3. At its meeting on July 17, the OAS Council voted to consult with the Foreign Ministers on the desirability of having the meeting open on August 12. The Council also thanked the Chilean Government for offering Santiago as the site of the meeting. For further information, see ibid., p. 137. At its meeting of July 24, the OAS Council agreed upon August 12 as the opening date of the Fifth Meeting of Consultation. For additional information, see ibid., p. 139.
4. Not printed here; for text, see Inter-American Efforts To Relieve Tensions in the Western Hemisphere, 1959–1960 (Department of State publication 7409, Washington, 1962), p. 22 n.
5. Reference presumably is to U.S. Representative Dreier’s statement before the OAS Council on July 10; for text, see Department of State Bulletin, July 27, 1959, p. 136.