158. Telegram From the Embassy in Mexico to the Department of State1
3627. For Secretary Vance, Counselor Nimetz and Asst Sec Vaky from Ambassador Lucey. Dept please pass White House for Wise and NSC. Subject: U.S.-Mexican Relations: The Critical Months Ahead. Ref: Mexico 3088.2
1. (C—Entire text.)
2. During the coming months which precede the summer meeting between President Carter and President Lopez Portillo, I believe we will have an unprecedented opportunity to influence the future course of U.S.-Mexican relations. From my admittedly limited perspective, however, it does not appear that our government is engaged in the kind of planning process which suggests that we are likely to take full advantage of this historic opportunity. At the risk of stating the obvious, I would therefore offer the following observations.
3. In my view, the President’s recent visit to Mexico provided the occasion for the Government of Mexico to clear off its chest a number of long-held grievances. Mexicans believe that Lopez Portillo was also able to send a signal to the U.S. about the existence of a “new” Mexico and to make clear that in all future dealings Mexico will expect our bilateral relationship to mature and to accommodate the new importance of our southern neighbor. One beneficial feature of these occurrences was the lancing of the infection that had developed in our relationship as a consequence of hard feelings about the failure of earlier gas negotiations.
4. It seems to me that we are presently in a position to enter into negotiations on a number of important matters without having to contend with the emotional hangups and rancorous sentiments that have permeated a range of subjects over the course of the last year. The Mexicans will always be tough negotiators on sensitive issues although they may not always be as prepared in detail as we would like. They will no doubt continue to press demands that cannot be satisfied and be inadequately sensitive to the requirements of U.S. domestic interests. But there is probably never going to be a better [Page 374] time than the next few months to confront these problems and to develop a momentum for constructive progress.
5. Lopez Portillo is a strong President. He is prepared to treat the U.S. fairly, and he has now positioned himself so that he can reach reasonable accords with the U.S. without undermining his own standing in Mexico.
6. All of these circumstances suggest to me that this is a time for the United States to seize the initiative and to seek out a framework for making progress on a number of bilateral issues. The initiative must clearly be ours. (The recent experience in preparing the joint communique is illustrative of this point.)3 It would be tragic if we missed out on the opportunity to have significant, concrete results available for the summer meeting of the two Presidents only because we provided insufficient time in the end for the Mexican bureaucracy to have its required participation in the ratification of salutory accords.
7. It is, therefore, my very strong recommendation that a high-ranking official be assigned to head up the effort these next few months to develop American positions, to prod the Mexicans and to take whatever initiatives can be devised to enhance the prospects for substantial bilateral progress. (I should think that this would involve everything from pressing for the early ratification of Tlatelolco, finding occasions for private correspondence with Lopez Portillo initiated by President Carter, beginning the process of collaboration on the planning for the summer visit and preparing U.S. negotiating teams for early contacts with Mexico on a whole set of pending substantive matters.)
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D790110–0025. Confidential; Immediate; Exdis. Repeated for information to all Consulates in Mexico.↩
- In telegram 3088 from Mexico City, February 23, Lucey discussed the recent meetings between Lopez Portillo and Carter and offered suggestions for natural gas negotiations and immigration strategy. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D790092–0227)↩
- For the final text of the communiqué, see Public Papers: Carter, 1979, Book I, pp. 287–292.↩