Office of the Historian

17. Memorandum of conversation, October 22, among Kennedy, President Paz, and U.S. and Bolivian officials1

Part II (of 3)
October 22, 1963, 4:30 p.m.
[Facsimile Page 1]

SUBJECT

  • Meeting between President Kennedy and President Paz of Bolivia: Bolivian-Chilean Relations

PARTICIPANTS

  • Bolivia

    • President Victor Paz Estenssoro
    • Minister of Foreign Relations José Fellman Velarde
    • Minister of National Economy Alfonso Gumucio Reyes
    • Ambassador Enrique Sanchez de Lozada
    • Mr. José Paz, President of Bolivian Oil Enterprise (YPFB)
    • Mr. Jorge Paz, President Paz’ uncle
    • Mr. Raul Vivado (Interpreter)

  • United States

    • President Kennedy
    • Under Secretary George W. Ball
    • Mr. Ralph A. Dungan, Special Assistant to the President
    • Assistant Secretary Edwin M. Martin
    • Ambassador Ben S. Stephansky
    • Ambassador-designate Douglas Henderson
    • Mr. Teodoro Moscoso, Coordinator for the Alliance for Progress
    • Mr. Ragnar Arnesen, Acting Director, Office of West Coast Affairs, AID
    • Mr. Herbert B. Thompson, Acting Director, Office of West Coast Affairs, Department of State
    • Mr. Fernando A. Van Reigersberg (Interpreter)
    • Mr. Donald F. Barnes (Interpreter)
[Facsimile Page 2]

The Foreign Minister said Bolivia was concerned that in 1962 Chile received six times the military assistance that went to Bolivia. The Foreign Minister said Bolivia did not want more military assistance but felt it desirable that military assistance to the two countries be in proportion. He said he believed the disproportion in this assistance contributed to the lack of progress toward a solution of the unfortunate conflict between Chile and Bolivia.

The Foreign Minister noted that Bolivia has two serious problems with Chile—the problem of the Lauca River and that of access to the sea. Mr. Fellman said he believed that the exertion of U.S. influence at an appropriate moment—and he wished to emphasize that he had said at an appropriate moment—would be a critical factor in achieving a [Typeset Page 44] solution. He said the dispute with Chile is a factor making for unrest in that part of the continent. He said that Bolivia was willing to go half-way to seek a solution and hoped that it might count on U.S. support at the right moment.

The President inquired how far from agreement the Foreign Minister felt he was and what evidence there was that Chile was ready to make concessions. The Foreign Minister said that the two countries were not far from an acceptable solution on the Lauca River problem. However, on the problem of Bolivian access to the sea, which he described as closely related to the Lauca problem, the two countries were much farther apart. He said that on the access problem Bolivia only asks Chilean fulfillment of a commitment made in 1946 and reiterated in 1950 when Chile proposed negotiations looking toward satisfying Bolivian aspirations for her own sovereign access to the sea in return for non-territorial compensation.

On the matter of military assistance President Kennedy said we have only committed about $57 million in the whole Hemisphere in the past year. We have continued this program, with some reluctance, on the grounds that the military would certainly be getting some matériel from somewhere in any case, and we have given special emphasis in this program to civic [Facsimile Page 3] action.

Mr. Martin explained that in total Chile has received more military assistance than Bolivia. However, much of this was provided Chile prior to 1961 when our program was geared toward continental defense and much of it has been for assistance to the Chilean Navy. Since 1961 our military assistance program has been reoriented away from continental defense. In fact FY 1963 military aid furnished Chile was no greater on a per capita basis than that provided Bolivia, whereas Bolivia received more economic aid per capita than any other Latin American country. Mr. Fellman referred to reports that economic aid to Chile last year was higher per capita than aid to Bolivia. Mr. Martin said such a calculation would have had to include our earlier extraordinary assistance to Chile for rehabilitation of areas of earthquake devastation.

President Kennedy said that even given this explanation, we would certainly bear in mind the Bolivian concern about our military assistance program. He did not know whether the time would ever come when the United States could be helpful in restoring good relations between Bolivia and Chile. However, he assured the Foreign Minister of our desire to be helpful should the time come when it is generally believed that we can be.

President Paz interjected that he would not want the Foreign Minister’s statement that Bolivia was not seeking more military assistance to be taken as absolute, since most of the military assistance for Bolivia goes into a very effective civic action program.

  1. Bolivian-Chilean relations. Confidential. 3 pp. DOS, President’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 66 D 149.↩