381. Telegram 9480 From the Department of State to the Embassy in Guyana1
9480. Subject: Response to GOG Inquiry About Press Reports Linking AID Programs and UN Votes. Refs: State 6769; Georgetown 63; Georgetown 2104.
1. In response to Foreign Minister Wills’s request for an official USG statement on the January 9 New York Times article (Georgetown 63), you should make following points:
A. We consider a wide range of factors in determining our bilateral relations with any given country, and actions in multilateral fora are an important element in the equation. In this connection it is important to note that Congress is taking an increasing interest in foreign affairs and in UN developments. Votes against the U.S. interest in the UN do not go unnoticed and cannot be ignored.
B. Authority to sign the AID public sector manpower training loan expired during the period of UNGA consideration of Korea. We did not want to sign an AID loan at a time when GOG so dramatically demonstrated opposition to the U.S. on a matter of vital interest to the U.S. and in a context where our interest had been made very clear to the GOG. We therefore decided delay requesting new signing authority for this loan. We did not inform the GOG at the time because the period of delay was indefinite. Timing for signing this loan is still under consideration in the USG.
[Page 987]C. We are continuing to process the food crops subsector loan and are prepared to go ahead with it in due course.
D. You should explain again to Wills our disappointment over Guyanese opposition on the Korean issue, referring in particular to the Secretary’s October 28 letter which described the Korean item as the most important issue on the UNGA agenda from the U.S. point of view.
E. It was because of our desire to discuss this issue and other important issues in the UN, the Angola question, upcoming Security Council debates, and a range of Third World issues, including commodity questions, that Assistant Secretary Rogers thought it important to see Foreign Minister Wills. As it proved impossible for Rogers to meet with Wills on Wills’s return from Africa, a series of high-level briefings were arranged for Ambassador Mann just prior to his return to Guyana. We are prepared to continue this close contact with Mann following his return to Washington.
F. You may conclude by telling Wills that we hope for a continued dialogue on problems in our relations and issues of mutual interest. In line with this, Assistant Secretary Rogers and Ambassador Mann agreed just before Mann’s departure that further efforts should be made to set up a meeting between Wills and Rogers. We are still hopeful that such a meeting can take place in the near future.
2. FYI: With regard to your suggestion (Georgetown 2104) that we say we are “reevaluating degree of community of interests essential to any program or project of assistance” you should note that the Secretary decided only to hold up signing the AID public sector manpower training loan. He further instructed that we not go beyond his original decisions in following up on the Korea issue in the UNGA. Thus we would not want to suggest that the entire AID program or any loans other than the manpower training loan have been affected by the Korea issue. This is particularly important because we do not want our economic assistance to Guyana to become an emotional issue for them at a time when we still hope for some Guyanese restraint on Angola and in the Security Council. End FYI.
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Summary: The Department instructed the Embassy to inform Wills that the signing of the AID training loan had been delayed indefinitely because of Guyana’s position on Korea at the UN but that another AID loan was being processed normally. The Department added that it did not wish to make aid an emotional issue, as it still hoped to win Guyanese restraint on the Angola issue and in the Security Council.
Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D760016–0257. Confidential; Exdis. Repeated Priority to USUN on January 16, which is the copy published here. In telegram 63 from Georgetown, January 11, the Embassy reported on Guyanese reaction to a January 9 article in the New York Times on cuts in aid to countries that voted against U.S. interests at the UN. (Ibid., P840105–0327) In telegram 87 from Georgetown, January 15, the Embassy reported that it had delivered the Department’s message to Wills and that it did “not believe that this message or decision will induce greater Guyanese restraint since motivation for consistent Guyanese opposition to U.S. has deep ideological, racial and personal roots.” (Ibid., D760015–1132) In telegram 256 from Georgetown, February 6, the Embassy recommended that the Department consider further reductions in aid to Guyana in response to continuing hostile actions. (Ibid., D760046–0526) Telegram 2104 from Georgetown is dated December 13, 1975. (Ibid., D750435–0449) For the article mentioned, see Leslie Gelb, “U.S. Linking Aid to Votes at UN: Kissinger Reported to Aim Punitive Cuts at Nations Aiding Hostile Stands,” New York Times, January 9, 1976, p. 1
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