Office of the Historian

60. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rogers to President Nixon1

Washington, March 27, 1973.

SUBJECT

  • State Visit of President of Bolivia

The Department was informed on February 22 that you had disapproved a State Visit by Bolivian President Banzer. The memorandum further indicated that you plan to receive no Latin American Chief of State during 1973. I believe it is important to our relations with Latin America that you receive at least one leader from that area for a State Visit during the year. For the reasons outlined below, I believe that leader should be President Banzer.

The Banzer Government, which took office in August 1971 as Bolivia was descending into chaos, has reasserted responsible government with a broadly-based centrist regime in opposition to the extreme left. Banzer has attempted with some success to introduce an element of stability in Bolivia and has recently enacted a politically difficult devaluation/economic stabilization program, to which the United States has contributed heavily.

Dependent on mineral exports for over 80% of its foreign exchange earnings (tin itself accounts for 50%), Bolivian officials and public have reacted with shock and dismay to indications that the GSA plans to accelerate the disposal from our strategic stockpiles of tin [Page 179] and seven other metals produced by Bolivia. The economic loss to Bolivia can be significant, but the psychological blow can cause even more damage.

Well before stockpile disposals became an issue, President Banzer took the initiative to seek an invitation from you for a visit to Washington. Our decision to move into a program of accelerated stockpile disposals and its inevitably unsettling effects in Bolivia, provides a new, and in my view powerful, justification for an invitation to President Banzer as a gesture of support to this cooperative government.

For the reasons stated above, I recommend that you approve a State Visit by President Banzer later in the year and authorize me to extend the invitation through the Bolivian Foreign Minister who will be in Washington for the April 4–14 OAS General Assembly.

William P. Rogers

  1. Summary: Rogers recommended Nixon invite Banzer to Washington for a State visit.

    Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL 7 BOL. Confidential. A typewritten note attached to the memorandum reads, “Approved—see memo of 4/26 from Mrs. Davis. jlh.” The February 22 memorandum to the Department has not been found. In telegram 2063 from La Paz, April 11, Siracusa reported that he had informed Banzer that Nixon had approved the visit “in principle.” (Ibid.) In telegram 2708 from La Paz, May 7, Siracusa, on behalf of the President, extended an invitation to visit the United States. (Ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 770, Country Files, Latin America, Bolivia, Vol. 2, 1971–1974)

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