Office of the Historian

346. Memorandum from Special Assistant and Human Rights Officer, Bureau of Inter-American Affairs (Lister) to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Inter-American Affairs (Ryan)1

Washington, January 22, 1976.

SUBJECT

  • Uruguayan Human Rights Strategy Session

I think the immediate reason for this session is the need to answer the two attached letters from Kennedy and Fraser. The more important reason is to think over where we are going on Uruguayan human rights, in general. Some background follows:

1. Uruguay is achieving rapidly increasing attention in the international human rights arena, including the Hill. There may well be Congressional hearings on Uruguayan human rights this session.

2. WOLA (Joe Eldridge) is already circulating and ridiculing one of our previous (Oct. 1975) Congressional responses on the subject as a “whitewash”.

3. Amnesty International is making Uruguay a special target this year.

4. The ICJ has taken strong issue with another of our Congressional letters.

5. Montevideo Embassy’s 241 of Jan. 20 deserves careful study.

6. In the reply to Fraser, we may be hit on the second sentence of para. 2 and the first sentence of para 3. In the reply to Kennedy, we may be hit on para. 2 of page 2.

None of the foregoing is anyone’s fault. But at the moment we are clearly on a collision course with the Hill and The Movement on this subject. We want to be sure that what we say now we will be able to, and wish to, defend later—possibly in public hearings.

George Lister

  1. Summary: Lister outlined to Ryan the need for a strategy session regarding human rights in Uruguay.

    Source: National Archives, RG 59, HA Country Files 1977, Lot 80D177, Human Rights Uruguay—1976. Confidential. The letters from Congressman Fraser and Senator Kennedy and the Department’s replies were not attached, but some late 1975 correspondence between Fraser and the Department is in the National Archives, RG 59, Human Rights Subject Files 1973–1975, Lot 77D391, Human Rights—Uruguay. In telegram 241 from Montevideo, January 20, the Embassy summarized the human rights situation in Uruguay and suggested ways that aid might be targeted to improve human rights in Uruguay. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, [no film number])

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