Office of the Historian

446. Memorandum From the Director of the Office of Caribbean Affairs (Burke) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Kubisch)1

Washington, June 7, 1974.

Bauxite Negotiations—Implications for our Future Relationship with the Government of Jamaica

—Company negotiators are scheduled to meet again with Jamaican counterparts on June 11. Justice Goldberg will not travel to Kingston for these meetings. In fact, he has said to me that he will become involved again only if an impasse develops and then only if his services are jointly requested by the GOJ and the companies. Goldberg is not optimistic that the new proposals discussed in Washington June 3 and 4 will be accepted by the GOJ.

—In his first meeting with PM Manley on June 5, Ambassador Gerard correctly stated that, until the negotiation had been played out, it would be difficult to predict how the USG/GOJ relationship might ultimately be affected by the GOJ’s effort to obtain a new arrangement with the aluminum companies.

—Despite Manley’s protestations to the contrary, it seems clear that there is an important ideological element involved in the hard line positions taken by the GOJ with the companies in their negotiations to date.

—If he gets all or most of what he has demanded of the companies, Manley sees his position as being enhanced, not only within the Caribbean Commonwealth but also in the International Bauxite Association (IBA), and the Third World (we know that Jamaica has sent emissaries to the other member nations of IBA soliciting support for its position).

—Unless the GOJ softens its position, it seems difficult to imagine that the basic relationship with the USG which has existed since independence in 1962 will not be importantly altered.

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—In extremis, depending on what the companies decide to do vis-à-vis ICSID and OPIC, we may eventually be obliged to take certain actions affecting our bilateral aid program in Jamaica, and cooperation on combating drug trafficking could be affected.

—Insofar as possible, we should avoid any public quarrel with Jamaica. Such a David/Goliath confrontation would obviously be “won” by the Jamaicans and could impact on our hemispheric relations.

—We should continue to make clear privately to the Jamaicans our regret that they have chosen to take what amounts to such radical action in an effort to change its relationship with the companies.

NOTE: You may also wish to raise the $9.1 million Rural Education Sector Loan to Jamaica which is ready for submission to the inter-agency Development Loan Committee prior to authorization. There has not been time to present a memorandum to the Secretary on this question though one was prepared for Mr. Rush on the eve of his departure in which we recommended that State concur in the approval of the loan by the inter-agency Development Loan Committee and in AID proceeding with authorization. The Embassy in Kingston has strongly recommended that the loan go forward (telegram attached).

  1. Summary: Burke reviewed the implications of the failure of the bauxite negotiations for future relations with the Jamaican Government, concluding that it was difficult to imagine that the relationship would not be “importantly altered.”

    Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files, 1970–1973, ARA/CAR Files, Lot 76D482, Bauxite, Jamaica 1974. Confidential. Attached but not published is telegram 1909 from Kingston, June 4, in which the Embassy noted that the cancellation of a planned loan to support rural education in Jamaica would not favorably influence bauxite negotiations and recommended that the loan be allowed to go forward. (Ibid.) In telegram 1949 from Kingston, June 5, the Embassy reported that Ambassador Sumner Gerard had discussed the future of U.S.-Jamaican relations in light of the failure of the bauxite negotiations during his first meeting with Manley. (Ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Country Files—Latin America, Box 786, Jamaica, Vol. I)

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