400. Telegram 135826 From the Department of State to the Embassy in Chile1
135826. Subject: Letter from the Secretary to Foreign Minister Escovar.
1. Please deliver the following letter from Secretary Kissinger to Foreign Minister Escovar:
2. Begin text. Dear Mr. Minister: I shall be looking forward to reviewing with you in Santiago progress we have made since our February meeting in Caracas.
The three months since our conversations have been productive:
On education, we have signed an agreement of understanding for a new academic program with talks scheduled soon toward developing a joint project.
A Latin American Food Research Center, we have concluded a preliminary study. We find the proposal eminently feasible, and invite a Venezuelan initiative toward this end in the international group for Agricultural Development (PGAD), an initiative which we are prepared to support.
On energy, we find the suggestion of your government to seek ways to assist energy-poor Latin American nations excellent and one which we propose to incorporate in our efforts to create an international energy institute. In this same area, the current visit to the United States of an eight-man Venezuelan energy team is an important step toward joint cooperation in alternate uses of energy.
On transfer of technology, we shall assign for the first time in Latin America a full-time technical assistance specialist to our embassy in Caracas to respond to specific requests from your government for services which you finance and direct. We consider this an innovative approach which may have application elsewhere in the hemisphere.
However, we must do more. We share common goals in seeking international economic solutions, in combatting terrorism, in establishing a meaningful code for transnational corporations and on economic integration. My government continues to stand ready as I announced [Page 1080] in February to cooperate with the Latin American Economic System (SELA). The role of your government with respect to restoring the Organization of American States to an effective voice in the hemisphere, an effort which we support, will be a determining factor in the future of that organization.
Mr. Minister, this will be my fourth trip as Secretary of State to Latin America and my second this year. I will be going to the General Assembly in a further effort to strengthen the foundations of U.S. relations in the hemisphere. I hope for harmony. You fully understand the importance of creating a positive climate. And you appreciate that, given the current situation in the U.S., discord would only hurt our common goals. We have important issues to address, including the workings of the inter-American system, and the policies of economic cooperation between the OAS member states. None of these is inherently divisive, so I very much hope that we can [have the] same atmosphere of understanding as prevailed last year.
We have already conveyed ideas on OAS reform. I understand that you have looked at some of our proposals. We are not wedded to any specific formulas or solutions. What I do look for is a serious effort on the part of the Foreign Ministers themselves to give some purpose to our organization, and to relieve it of a portion of its excessive bureaucracy. Our proposal for beginning such a reform is to call on the general assembly to adopt guidelines for a study group or other mechanism that will assure a serious look at the functional and structural failing of the OAS. We quite frankly have found the charter reform a sterile exercise and would like to move that discussion to a more practical level. You can help on this, I will look forward to hearing your ideas.
On the cooperation for development agenda item, we can engage in some serious exchanges on trade and technology. I will be bringing several proposals to the discussions, as I would hope that we can take some innovative approaches to the perennial technology transfer debate. This hemisphere, I am convinced, could become a model for the world in developing regional programs in technology exchange.
Allow me a special word on human rights. We seek your counsel to find a hemispheric position respectful of national sovereignty. I cannot help but feel that the reputation of the OAS would be tarnished were its members not to speak up on human rights at Santiago. How to do this is an important question, however. We hope it can be done in such a way as to result in institutional strengthening of the inter-American Human Rights Commission, an endorsement of the commissions findings on Chile, and an extension of its mandate to continue monitoring the situation there. I shall value especially highly your views on this matter.
[Page 1081]Your wise and friendly counsel has been of great assistance to me in the past. I look forward to these further discussions with you in Santiago. Warm personal regards. Henry A. Kissinger. End text.
3. The Department does not plan to release the text and prefers that it remain a privileged communication. Unquote
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Summary: As a follow-up to their February 16–17 meetings in Caracas, Kissinger informed Escovar of U.S. policy towards Venezuela in the areas of education, food research, energy, technology transfer, and regional issues.
Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D760214–1014. Confidential; Immediate; Exdis. Drafted and approved by Glenn. For the February conversations between Kissinger, Pérez, and Escovar, see Document 396.
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