301. Editorial Note
U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Lawrence Pezzullo reported in telegram 3538 from Managua, August 5, 1979, that Nicaragua required 300 tons of food aid a day and that daily U.S. deliveries were averaging less than 100 tons. Furthermore, Nicaraguan Government of National Reconstruction (GRN) Junta members had either implied or stated to the press that the “US may be manipulating food supplies for political reasons.” Pezzullo expressed concern that the issue could undermine his credibility with the new government and requested the speedy establishment of an air bridge to increase the amount of food aid delivered. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, [no film number]) On an undated excerpt of a memorandum prepared in the White House that summarized telegram 3538, President Jimmy Carter wrote: “An ‛air-bridge’ is very expensive—Why not ships?” Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote below: “I will push this.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor Files, Country Files, Box 36, Nicaragua: 8/1/79–8/10/79)
In telegram 3644 from Managua, August 9, the Embassy reported that several members of the GRN Junta had criticized the United States Government for channeling the emergency food aid through the International Committee of the Red Cross and voluntary agencies rather than the Nicaraguan Government. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D790361–1136) Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and First Lady Rosalynn Carter met with GRN Junta members in Quito on August 10 during a visit to attend the inauguration of Ecuadoran President Jaime Roldós Aguilera. In telegram 211423 to Managua, August 14, the Department noted that during the meeting “GRN representatives pressed the Secretary very hard on the food distribution question, and the Secretary has decided that we should begin distributing at least some of our relief assistance through the GRN as soon as possible.” (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D790368–0514) The Embassy reported in telegram 3765 from Managua, August 15, that the International Communications Agency in Managua “continually faces the fact that the GRN media is quick to highlight assistance from all donors except that received from the USG,” and that “USG efforts, when mentioned at all, are accompanied by protestations of paucity in comparison with the donations of other governments.” National Security Council Staff Member Robert Pastor underlined these sentences on a copy of the telegram and added a message for Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Pete Vaky: “Pete—This is deplorable. We should ask them straight-out: Are they trying to encourage their people to continue to view the U.S. with [Page 733] suspicion and hostility, or are they going to try to break that down by telling the true story?” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor Files, Country Files, Box 37, Nicaragua: 8/11–31/79)
In a September 7 memorandum to Brzezinski, Executive Secretary of the Department of State Peter Tarnoff reported that the interagency Nicaraguan Relief and Reconstruction Coordination Committee held a final meeting on September 6 and determined that the food aid sent to Nicaragua was “adequate to meet relief needs for the immediate future.” (Department of State, Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, Nicaragua/El Salvador Working Files, Lot 81D64, Nicaragua—Relief Coordination July–September, 1979)