355. Telegram 2722 From the Embassy in Uruguay to the Department of State1
2722. Subj: Congressman Koch’s Charges. Ref: State 169681 and Montevideo 2341.
1. I received from Hew Ryan a copy of his recent letter to Congressman Koch, bearing no date, but which I assume had been sent about mid-July. State 169681 said this was being sent to all ARA posts and said the charges made against us were “completely unfounded”. While I appreciate this, I must say I and my colleagues are disappointed in the letter which gives evidence of having been so chopped up by multiple drafters and clearers that it ends with little or no impact. Certainly it does not constitute a very notable reaction to a totally unwarranted, uninformed and unfair attack on this Embassy. Also, it says nothing whatsoever about Congressman Koch’s ridiculing of our labor officer who, entirely on his own and in consultation with no one, exercised his citizen’s right to communicate with his own Congressman about a matter about which he felt deeply.
2. It should be no surprise, therefore, that the Department’s letter apparently had no effect on Congressman Koch. USINFO now reports the text of the Congressman’s letter to the editor of the New York Times, published on July 19, which charges that this Embassy “shuns the idea that there is a human rights problem in Uruguay”—and again ridicules the labor attaché for his personal view.
3. It is thus, unfortunately, all too evident that Congressman Koch has not been adequately briefed on this Embassy’s reporting of human rights, or else that he chooses to ignore the facts given him as he pursues [Page 949] his own objectives, whatever these may be. Likewise, he apparently has not been told, or if told ignores the fact, that we have asked that he be informed that the labor attaché’s letter was strictly a representation of his own view, and that he is not responsible for human rights reporting here and in fact has had little or nothing to do with it.
4. In light of these comments, I ask the Department to reconsider my past recommendation. It seems to me that since the truth we seek to expose is in the substance of this Embassy’s reporting, the best way to expose it is to open it to public scrutiny. I therefore recommend again that the reports specified in Montevideo 2341 be decontrolled and together with this message, be referred to Congressman Koch and/or others for publication in the Congressional Record. Recent American history illustrates all too painfully how artful explanations fail where the simple and whole truth would have served so well.
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Summary: Siracusa criticized the Department’s handling of the accusations made by Koch against the Embassy in Uruguay, asking that the Department brief Koch using Embassy reporting on Ferreira.
Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D760281–0662. Unclassified. Repeated for information to Buenos Aires. In telegram 2341 from Montevideo, June 24, the Embassy responded to material that Koch had placed in the Congressional Record on June 22, which questioned the integrity of the Embassy’s human rights reporting and which Siracusa believed was based on information Ferreira had given to Koch. Siracusa asked that the Department decontrol telegrams 2270, 2322 and 2324 from Montevideo, all of which discuss the Embassy’s assessments of Ferreira, and make them available to Koch for placement in the Congressional Record. (Ibid., [no film number]) In telegram 169681 from the Department of State to the Embassy in Uruguay, July 8, Kissinger noted that “the Department is most concerned about the allegations Ferreira has made about the U.S. Embassy and U.S. officials and believes these changes must be refuted.” (Ibid., D760264–1208) A letter from Ryan to Koch regarding Ferreira, dated July 14, is in the National Archives, RG 59, HA Country Files 1977: Lot 80D177, Human Rights Uruguay—1976.
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