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

ES–5. Memorandum of Conversation by the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Rubottom)¹

Washington, March 11, 1959

SUBJECT

• Visit of President Lemus of El Salvador

PARTICIPANTS

• President Lemus of El Salvador; Foreign Minister Ortiz Mancia; Minister of Economy Rochac; Minister of Public Works Parker; Economic Adviser Jorge Sol; Ambassador Castro; Acting Secretary Herter; Ambassador Kalijarvi; Mr. Rubottom

The Acting Secretary, after greeting the President and his party, commented on how much Secretary Dulles had appreciated the indication from President Lemus of his desire to call on him at the Walter Reed Hospital. He added that the Secretary was still under treatment and had not actually seen any of the members of his own staff in the last few days; therefore it would not be possible for him to have the pleasure of receiving the President, as much as he would have liked doing so. Governor Herter then voiced his awareness of the excellent speech made the day before to the Council of the Organization of American States by President Lemus² and offered to make arrangements for the President or any member of his party to meet with Allan Dulles, Director of the Central intelligence Agency.

President Lemus indicated an interest, if time permitted, and added that he would like for the Foreign Minister to meet with Mr. Dulles, even if he were unable to do so. The President pointed out the relationship between the communist problem and the socio-economic problem in his country and other countries.

Mr. Rubottom mentioned that the whole thrust of the U.S. policy was designed to attack the communist problem at its roots by helping the governments and the peoples to raise living standards and offer hope for the future. Governor Herter expressed his hope that the President would express some of these same ideas in his speech before the Congress, and the President indicated that he intended to do just that.³ The President stressed his interest in the economic integration of Latin America, and especially the five countries of Central America, as well as Panama if the latter were interested. Governor Herter expressed general agreement and suggested that the President might want to mention the subject in his talk with President Eisenhower. At that point President Lemus asked the Minister of Economy, Mr. Rochac, to express his views on the subject of economic integration.

Minister Rochac leaned heavily on the report of Dr. Milton Eisenhower,⁴ especially that section suggesting a pilot project of two countries like “El Salvador and Honduras”.⁵ President Lemus interceded to say that El Salvador wanted to be not just a borrower of monies from abroad, but wanted to play an active role in economic development; he added that this should not be misunderstood since his country really needs assistance, but wants to do more than it has in the past.

Mr. Rubottom suggested that the pilot project, involving just two countries, might require rather delicate negotiation on the part of the countries concerned, since all the other countries of Central America were vitally interested in integration.

The United States had moved from a position of more or less passive acceptance of the plan of integration, to one of active and enthusiastic support of it, but it would be in an embarrassing position to favor any two countries over others in the area.

President Lemus referred to the recent visit through Central America of Messrs. Frank and Turkel to discuss with the Governments concerned, and anybody else interested, the subject of a regional market. He said that they were anxiously awaiting the report that might be filed following that trip, since the means to achieve integration had not yet been thoroughly defined.⁶

Minister Rochac said that, by having a pilot project of two countries, it would be possible to speed up the achievement of the objective of a Central American common market. They have already been working seven years and, unless something is done to break the road jam, it may require eight years more.

The Minister recalled how many civil wars had been fought in Central America toward the end of the last century and that these had been settled by the Pact of Washington in 1907,⁷ thanks to U.S. good offices. He hoped that we would be able to do the same in the economic field that we had done in the political sector back in that time. He stressed the need to raise living standards, since there is now no middle class in Central America.

Governor Herter said that we had been somewhat distressed by some of the problems that have arisen in practice now that the European Common Market has actually been created. He said that Benelux had been a natural development, but that some new problems had been created or old ones accentuated, rather than helped, by the common market.

Minister Rochac referred to the relatively stable financial situation of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, adding that the other two (Costa Rica and Nicaragua) were not as well off. He thought it was advisable to start with three countries or two, just El Salvador and Honduras, and allow the others to come in gradually.

Mr. Rubottom suggested that the future problems of the common market could be solved with good faith, hard work, and by devotion to sound principles in the beginning of the project, just as we are undertaking to do in the establishment of the Inter-American Bank.

Governor Herter alluded to the United States’ interest in the Law of the Sea and the conference now foreseen a year from this month, expressing the hope that we would have the cooperation of El Salvador. The Foreign Minister, Sr. Ortiz Mancia, said that they thought we would have their cooperation. They have a constitutional rigidity with respect to the Law of the Sea, but they believe there is a way of harmonizing our two viewpoints. (Later on the Foreign Minister assured Mr. Rubottom that they would be able to do this.)

The Economic Adviser to President Lemus, Mr. Jorge Sol, made a very strong plea for U.S. support of the economic integration of Central America.⁸ Without this, according to Mr. Sol, there is no economic future to Central America, since they are too dependent on just one or two products.

Following Mr. Sol’s eloquent presentation, the entire party left the President’s Guest House for the White House to meet with President Eisenhower.

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 716.11/3–1159. Confidential. Approved by Acting Secretary of State Herter on March 24, 1959.
2. For the text of President Lemus’ speech before the Council of the Organization of American States on March 10, 1959, see PAU doc. C-a 302 (Protocolar 10 March 1959), p. 8.
3. For the text of President Lemus’ speech before a joint meeting on Congress, March 11, 1959, see the Congressional Record, 86th Cong., 1st sess., 1959, vol. 105, pt. 3, p. 3899.
4. Reference is to the report (submitted) to the President by Milton S. Eisenhower on December 27, 1958. For information concerning the report, see footnote 1, Document ES-2.
5. The statement under reference does not appear in Eisenhower’s report to the President.
6. Harry R. Turkel and Isaiah Frank of the Department of State visited El Salvador, February 18–22, 1959, on a mission to Central America, to discuss ways of speeding up Central American Economic integration. They talked with industrial and banking figures and government officials, including Lemus. He strongly supported the idea of Salvadoran economic integration with one or more Central American countries, perhaps Honduras or Guatemala, before economic integration of the whole area. Their report on the trip was not found in Department of State files, but documents pertaining to their discussions in El Salvador are in files 110.4-REA and 716.00 (W).
7. Reference is to the General Treaty of Peace and Amity signed at Washington by Representatives of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, December 20, 1907; for text, see William M. Mallory (Comp.), Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols and Agreements between the United States of America and Other Powers, 1776–1909, vol. II, p. 2392.
8. For documentation regarding economic integration, see the compilation on United States regional economic policy.