173. Telegram From the Embassy in Mexico to the Department of State1
17225. Subject: President Lopez Portillo Comments on the United States Elections.
1. (C) Summary: President Lopez Portillo, in his first comments after the U.S. election, praised the American electoral system and predicted no change in U.S.-Mexican relations. At the same time, the President went beyond traditional words of congratulation to the new administration to address substance. The President, speaking in a non-contentious tone without reference to any anticipated positions of the next U.S. administration, cautioned against intervention and repressive approaches in this region, arguing that Latin America’s problems are [Page 421] primarily economic in origin and should be addressed as such. End summary.
2. (LOU) President Lopez Portillo, November 5, dispatched a letter of congratulations to President-elect Ronald Reagan and a letter of regard to President Jimmy Carter.2 Interviewed briefly after departing a Mexico City meeting, President Lopez Portillo stated that President-elect Reagan’s victory and President Carter’s gracious acceptance of his loss, “really gave proof of the excellence of the exemplary (American) system.” He added that, “nothing has changed” between the United States and Mexico.
3. (LOU) President Lopez Portillo was interviewed the same day by Robin Lloyd of NBC and Franco Catucci of Eurovision. He responded as follows to questions on what he would recommend to President-elect Reagan re U.S.-Latin American policy.
4. (LOU) Intervention. Speaking in general terms without attributing specific intentions to the prospective U.S. administration, the President stated that “interventionist political treatment” of economic-social problems is not correct and that such problems should be handled on their own terms and not through “structures of repressive control which go against the essence of the Free World.” Queried specifically about desirable U.S. policy in Central America, the President suggested that the U.S. not intervene. He said that it would be inappropriate to intervene to protect political or economic interests. The President expressed hope that the “internal process” of the countries of the region would be respected and said that, “if the hegemonies (outside powers) leave these countries free, they will be able to express their own freedom and thus obtain, through an institutional path, their own solutions.”
5. (LOU) Economic-social problems. The President characterized Latin America’s problems as basically economic and social. He said that these problems revolve basically around trade with the industrialized nations and its terms. He said that the solutions to these problems are to be found in economic measures, in the trade and monetary areas, not in political and “repressive” responses.
[Page 422]6. (LOU) Bilateralism. President Lopez Portillo said that Latin America is not a monolithic bloc and that the idea of a total Latin American dialogue with the U.S. is “impossible.” He added that, despite the existence of various regional and sub-regional blocs, “what must prevail are the bilateral relations between the (individual) Latin American countries and the United States.”
7. (C) Comment: President Lopez Portillo’s favorable comments on the American electoral process were presumably intended to send a positive signal to the prospective administration. At the same time, it is striking that, in his very first post-election statements, the President chose to engage not just in banalities but also in substantive comment, albeit in a softened, non-polemical manner. The President clearly wished to put the GOM on record early on as being opposed to greater U.S. military involvement in Central America—a specter now being raised here in extensive leftist press commentary (including some of Cuban origin). It is notable, however, that the President maintained an objective tone and scrupulously avoided specifically attributing to the Reagan administration the military approach against which he was arguing.
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800531–1051. Confidential; Immediate. Drafted by Glassman. Repeated for information to all Consulates in Mexico and USSOUTHCOM Quarry Heights.↩
- In the letter to Carter, dated November 5, Lopez Portillo wrote, “At this time when the world has learned of the decision of the people of the United States expressed in yesterday’s elections, I take pleasure in sending you my heartfelt congratulations for the high sense of responsibility and the democratic faith you have professed and demonstrated. I should also like to send you my best wishes for your personal well-being and express to you once more the assurance of my friendship and esteem.” (Carter Library, Plains File, Subject File, Box 5, Heads of State Farewells: Italy-Portugal, 11/80–5/81) On November 18, Carter replied, “Dear Mr. President: I was deeply touched by the kind sentiments contained in your message to me following the American elections. It has been a privilege to work with you during my term of office, and I look forward with confidence to a continued strong and positive relationship between our two nations in the future. Sincerely, Jimmy Carter.” (Ibid.)↩