Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–11, Part 1, Documents on Mexico; Central America; and the Caribbean, 1973–1976

44. Memorandum of Conversation¹

Washington, June 1, 1976.

SUBJECT

• The Secretary’s Trip in June, 1976 to the OASGA in Santiago, Chile

PARTICIPANTS

• Secretary Kissinger
• Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Designate William D. Rogers
• Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs Designate Harry Shlaudeman
• Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs William H. Luers
• Director, S/P, Winston Lord
• S/P—Luigi Einaudi
• S/P—M. Charles Hill
• S—Richard W. Aherne
• NSC–IG/ARA—J. H. Glenn (Notetaker)

Kissinger: Have my comments on these drafts circulated? No? Well, let’s look at the Dominican toast; you can look at my comments later. First of all, it’s preposterous to speak of a special relationship between us; it’s an insult to the Dominicans. Second, this toast makes it sound as though my trip is mainly to further the restructuring of the OAS. This is only a tertiary objective. I don’t care if Alex Orfila is having problems with the Permanent Council. But, I am willing to plug OAS reform at the tail end of the toast.

The purpose of my trip is the continuation of the dialogue begun last year and continued on my last visit to Latin America; attending the OASGA is only a pretext. So, restate the themes of my last trip in this toast, put OAS reform at the end, and say a few graceful things about the Dominican Republic, but don’t go overboard as in this draft.

The important thing is that Monday’s newspapers emphasize my purpose in making the toast and the trip. It doesn’t hurt to stress the same themes as before; reiteration doesn’t discourage the press. Nobody can remember what we said before, anyway.

Make sure that the toast includes the themes of economic development, technology transfer, trade and human rights. But cut most of the stuff on the Dominican Republic’s role in world affairs. After all, what place does the Dominican Republic have in the family of nations.

Human rights make me love the State Department. Am I supposed to make a revolution in Chile? I can’t say what you want me to. I can’t launch a broad scale attack on Chile. I am willing to make a general statement on human rights in the Western Hemisphere.

Luers: The basic question is: how do you address the Inter-American Human Rights Commission report, in the context of which Chile arises?

Kissinger: Do we want a separate Human Rights Commission for each country? The Southerners would blast me.

Lord: But the Southern primaries are over.

Kissinger: This human rights statement is ridiculous. Are we willing to set a commission up to report to the OAS? Senator Allen would filibuster it. Would Argentina set one up?

Shlaudeman: Sure, a controlled one.

Luers: Only the democracies would have problems.

Kissinger: Why is it that only now when terrorists are being killed is action being proposed? What about earlier when the terrorists were doing the killing? Why wasn’t there any action then? What I want is a general statement along the lines of what I said in Colombia and Costa Rica; at the end, mention Chile in a less self-righteous manner. Take out the harebrained schemes like country commissions.

Shlaudeman: What about regular, 4-year visits?

Kissinger: O.K.

I see no advantage in the talking point format in this cooperation for development statement. We need a coherent statement for the press.

Lord: For the press?

Kissinger: Yes, I want it given to the press; it’s the only way to get it covered. Briefings themselves are insufficient. The problem is that the Latins need heroic rhetoric at the beginning of each statement. They need to know you care. Also, the problems for which solutions are posed in this paper are not stated. I’m the last to believe that a special relationship really exists between the U.S. and Latin America. One of our hangups is our insistence on a special relationship. With the right policy, we could make more progress in the Western Hemisphere than in any other area of the world. De la Flor, for instance, is qualitatively different from the others; why push them? I don’t accept in light of the Lome and similar conventions that the U.S. should follow a purely global approach to trade. Why not a special arrangement with Latin America?

So, in this paper, define the problems for which it poses solutions; focus more on the Western Hemisphere; flesh out further the proposals for the Western Hemisphere. It’s really a rather good paper; I have some problems with it, of course. Half of our problem is the press.

[Omitted here is discussion of the May 5–31 UNCTAD session held in Nairobi, Kenya, and discussion of plans for Kissinger’s June 10–13 visit to Mexico.]

1. Summary: Kissinger commented on the purpose of his upcoming trip to Latin America, during which he was to participate in an OAS General Assembly session in Santiago, Chile.

   Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P820118–1524. Secret; Nodis. Drafted by James Glenn in NSC–IC/ARA. Approved by Collums on July 6. All brackets are in the original except those indicating text omitted by the editors. The toast that Kissinger delivered in Santo Domingo on June 6 is published in the Department of State Bulletin, July 5, 1976, pp. 14–19. Kissinger’s June 8 statement on human rights, delivered at the OAS General Assembly in Santiago, is ibid., pp. 1–5. In telegram 130518 to Kissinger, May 27, the Department transmitted talking points for an informal OASGA session on cooperation for development. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D760205–0109) Kissinger’s June 9 statement on cooperation for development is published in the Department of State Bulletin, July 5, 1976, pp. 5–10.