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

VE–34. Memorandum of a Conversation, Caracas, Venezuela, August 27, 1959¹

Caracas, August 27, 1959

I called on the President at his home, where he is working while he is on a 2-week “vacation”. The interview was arranged at my request for the purpose of conveying a message from Assistant Secretary Mann and Ambassador Sparks as instructed by Department telegram 153.²

I first read to the President the message from Mr. Mann and Ambassador Sparks, translating it as I read. The President nodded and expressed understanding at various points but did not indicate any substantive reaction to the content of the message. He said he wanted to discuss this with his advisers, particularly Minister of Mines, and Hydrocarbons, PEREZ Alfonso, and that he would be able to see them tomorrow night for this purpose. I mentioned that the telegram had been sent NIACT and that I felt Ambassador Sparks would await in Washington³ a reply from the President. President Betancourt responded by saying in that case he would see Perez Alfonso tonight and would convey to me tomorrow his decision as to whether he would prefer that Mr. Mann visit Caracas.⁴ It became obvious during the conversation that the President was turning over in his mind the relative desirability of having the United States’ position become known in Venezuela following a visit of Mr. Mann as compared with having it become known through a formal note to the Foreign Office. He also expressed tentative approval for his own part of a visit by Mr. Mann to Caracas.

I asked the President how he felt about the outcome of the Santiago Conference⁵ and the President said he was very satisfied. He said that he had been somewhat disturbed by the editorial reaction of most of the newspapers in Caracas and indicated he felt most of the editorialists had exhibited a lack of intelligence or of understanding of the Conference.

From the Santiago Conference the conversation turned to the Dominican Republic and the situation in the Caribbean. The President referred to the continued propaganda being issued by Trujillo against him and spoke also of the libelous statements that are being distributed through the mails concerning MUÑOZ Marin. I spoke of our interest in international free trade and asked the President if in his opinion Venezuela will endeavor to exercise a complete boycott against the Dominican Republic. The President understood that my remarks had specific reference to the matter of ships proceeding here from the Dominican Republic and said that although the Government had issued the orders for close inspection of such ships, the refusal of the longshoremen to unload the vessels was a spontaneous one. He said that of course the Government could do nothing about this but also inferred quite clearly that even if the Government were in a position to order the longshoremen to work the ships, he would not be inclined to do so. The President referred to the years of persecution and attack he has suffered at the hands of Trujillo and said that as far as freedom of international trade is concerned, one has to be “realistic” about these matters. I mentioned Haiti in this same part of the conversation and the President said that after talking to Mr. James of the Saturday Evening Post yesterday, he was satisfied that DUVALIER is a “zombie”. The President added further that he knows that Duvalier’s Chief of Police is in the pay of Trujillo.

The President then mentioned the arrest of PEREZ Jiménez and I explained to him somewhat the procedure for handling extradition requests in the United States. The President demonstrated understanding of all of this including the probability that the extradition hearings will be a protracted affair. He referred to PJ’s description of Betancourt as being a Communist in derisive terms.

The President then brought up the subject of delays in arms shipments which Venezuela has ordered under the Defense Assistance Agreement. I said General LOPEZ HENRIQUEZ had spoken to the Ambassador about this the evening of August 20 and that I knew the Ambassador was following the matter up in Washington. Although speaking in pleasant terms, the President made it very clear that the Venezuelan Government is a serious one, that it has funds to purchase the arms which it needs and which it would not buy if it did not need, and that if it cannot get those arms under the contract with the United States, it will have to look elsewhere, specifically France or Italy. I explained the basis and the reason for our giving careful consideration to arms shipments at the present time in the Caribbean and said that although some shipments of arms to Venezuela have been delayed I was not aware that any had been definitively rejected. The President was obviously unimpressed and said that as long as Trujillo is in the area threatening Venezuela militarily, Venezuela has to be prepared to defend itself. He made it clear that General Lopez Henriquez had been speaking for him on August 20 and although the President did not say so, I gathered from the conversation that he supposed that Lopez Henriquez had made just as strong a representation for the prompt shipment of arms ordered by Venezuela as he, the President, had just done. I did not remark to the President that the Minister’s approach had been much less positive.

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 731.5-MSP/8–2859. Confidential. Drafted by Burrows, and transmitted to the Department of State, under cover of despatch 15 from Caracas, August 28, 1959.
2. The referenced telegram, August 26, 1959, requested to the Chargé to deliver orally a message to Betancourt which read, in part: “Due to circumstances beyond its control it will not be possible to reach a definitive decision on question of possible relaxation of import controls or residual fuel oil for burning until week commencing September 7. U.S. general position is that country quotas for petroleum imports or exports would be counterproductive. . . .” (411.006/8–2659)
3. Sparks was in Washington for an appearance before the Senate Permanent Investigating Committee on Government Operations regarding the Bolivian aid program. (724.5 MSP/8–1259)
4. The Venezuelan Government responded that Mann should not come to Caracas since his visit would not help to explain the U.S. position. Perez Alfonso also handed the Chargé a memo analyzing and rejecting the U.S. position. (411.0016–2859)
5. Reference is to the Fifth Meeting of consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of American States, held in Santiago, Chile, August 12–18, 1959, which resulted in the so-called Declaration of Santiago de Chile that restated the general inter-American commitment to democracy and human rights, and another that directed the Inter-American Peace Committee to study the whole question of political conflicts such as had recently been occurring and to report to the Eleventh Inter-American Conference, scheduled to meet in Quito in 1960.