VE–4. Letter from the Attorney General (Rogers) to the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Murphy)1
This will confirm my telephone conversation with you in which I expressed my concern regarding the issuance of a visa by the Department of State to the ex-Dictator of Venezuela, Marcos Perez Jimenez. As I told you, I learned of the issuance of this visa for the first time in a newspaper account.
In view of the commitment made by the Department of State, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, of course, will admit Perez Jimenez [Typeset Page 1197] if he applies for admission to the United States. However, the problems we have encountered in a similar case where a visa was granted to a foreign political leader prompt me to express the reservations I mentioned to you in our telephone conversation. In the event Perez Jimenez, as in the Prio case,2 should seek to use this country for future power plotting and the Department of State should protest to this Department, as was done in the Prio case, I want to make it clear that it may be difficult to effect his deportation or even to prevent him from engaging in activities detrimental to our foreign relations while here.
Furthermore, since we talked about this matter, I noticed a United Press dispatch in this morning’s newspapers reporting that the Assistant Attorney General of Venezuela has filed a formal petition for the extradition to Venezuela of Pedro Estrada, former chief of the Security Police under the Perez Jimenez regime. I am advised that Estrada is currently in the United States on a diplomatic visitor’s visa.
Sincerely yours,
- Source: Department of State, ARA/EST Files, Lot 61 D 319, “Visas—Perez Jimenez—Estrada.” Confidential.↩
- Reference is to Carlos Prío Socorrás, President of Cuba, 1948–1952, who took refuge in the United States during the period 1952–1958, and was allegedly involved in plotting against the government of Fulgencio Batista.↩