Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980 Volume XXIV, South America; Latin America Region

1. Presidential Review Memorandum/NSC–17¹

Washington, January 26, 1977

TO

• The Vice President
• The Secretary of State
• The Secretary of Defense

ALSO

• The Secretary of the Treasury
• The Attorney General
• The United States Representative to the United Nations
• The Secretary of Agriculture
• The Secretary of Labor
• The Secretary of Commerce
• The Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers
• The Administrator, Agency for International Development
• The Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
• The Director, United States Information Agency
• The Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
• The Director of Central Intelligence
• The Special Trade Representative

SUBJECT

• Review of U.S. Policy Toward Latin America (U)

The President has directed that the PRM/NSC–1 on Panama² lead into a broad review of our overall policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean. The PRC, chaired by the Department of State, will be responsible for preparation of this review, which should clearly state areas of inter-agency agreement and disagreement.³

The study should analyze the major issues of concern to the U.S. and Latin America and examine whether the current assumptions underlying U.S. policy toward the region as well as the policies themselves are appropriate to an effective handling of these issues. The review should concentrate initially on six areas and then proceed to a discussion of an overall policy.⁴

The study should be completed by March 1.

The six areas for initial analysis include:

1. Interests. What economic, political, and military changes have occurred over the past decade in the international environment, in the U.S. and in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean? How have these changes affected the ways in which U.S. policies can advance or protect U.S. interests in the region or influence the internal or external policies of the region’s governments?

What are U.S. interests in Latin America and the Caribbean today, and how have they evolved over the past decade? What is the broad psychological climate within the hemisphere into which U.S. policies and action will be projected over the next decade?⁵

2. Economic Issues. The economic issues of concern to Latin America, including trade, commodities, debt, international financial institutions, foreign direct investment, science and technology, and development assistance make up the agenda of the North-South dialogue. Therefore, in developing options for U.S. policies on these issues, the review should include a discussion of (a) how it would impact on U.S. and Latin/Caribbean interests, and (b) how it might be implemented, including possible need for new legislation or a modification of existing legislation. These options should take explicit account of the differentiation of Latin America and the Caribbean as between middle range powers and less-developed countries. Discussion of strategies for each option should address its relationship to the broader North-South dialogue and should identify which institution(s)—if any—might be the most appropriate and effective for dealing with the issue.

The review should also include an analysis and possible options for U.S. policy toward Latin American and Caribbean efforts at regional economic integration, including the Central American Common Market, Caribbean Community, Andean Pact, LAFTA, and also the Latin American Economic System (SELA).

3. Human Rights. What options are available for U.S. foreign policy to reflect a higher and more effective level of concern for fundamental human rights in all nations?

Options should be developed for U.S. policy in: (a) bilateral relationships (taking into consideration distinctions between degrees of human rights violations and types of governments); (b) multilateral organizations, including intergovernmental organizations like the OAS, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, the United Nations Human Rights Commission; non-governmental organizations like Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists; and third parties like Western European governments and the Vatican; and (c) signing and ratification of various conventions, including the American Convention on Human Rights.⁶

A discussion should also be included of ways to strengthen the internal capacity of the U.S. Government to assess reports and to make determinations on “consistent patterns of gross violations of human rights”. It should also include a review of present U.S. policy with regard to temporary asylum in U.S. Embassies, and emigration to the U.S. of refugees from political repression.

4. Special Country Problems. With regard to each, what are U.S. interests, and in the light of those interests what should U.S. objectives be? What options and strategies are available to the U.S. to attain those objectives?

a. Cuba (can be dealt with separately and more quickly)

b. Brazil

c. Mexico

d. Central America

5. Caribbean. This section should consider: (a) a discussion of the economic and political problems of the independent and non-self-governing islands of the Caribbean; (b) a review of U.S. security, economic, humanitarian, and political interests in the region, and strategies for advancing or protecting those interests; and (c) the desirability and feasibility of assisting the development of the region in a way which will not collide with the aspirations for national independence of the new independent countries of the region.

6. Institutional and Other Issues. Issues for review include, but need not be limited to:

a. Inter-American System: U.S. purposes with respect to the Organization of American States, the Rio Treaty,⁷ and other regional organizations like the Inter-American Defense Board.

b. U.S. Policies on Territorial Disputes:

(1) Bolivia-Chile-Peru

(2) Peru-Ecuador

(3) El Salvador-Honduras

(4) Belize

(5) Guyana-Surinam-Venezuela

(6) Venezuela-Colombia

c. Arms Sales, military training and U.S. military representation.

d. Nuclear Proliferation and safeguards.

e. Narcotics.

f. Illegal Immigration.

This review should identify at the conclusion the basic options for an overall U.S.-Latin American policy in light of the options identified for the major issues considered above.

Zbigniew Brzezinski

1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, 1977–1980, Box 2, PRM/NSC 1–24 [1]. Secret.
2. See Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, vol. XXIX, Panama, Documents 2 and 3.
3. See Document 4.
4. In a January 22 memorandum to Brzezinski, Pastor wrote: “Rather than begin such a study with a discussion of a ‘general approach,’ which would probably lead into an unnecessarily entangled philosophical debate over the ‘special relationship,’ I thought it would be much more fruitful to address specific issues and proceed inductively and in steps to a conceptual summary. After addressing economic issues and human rights considerations,—the two central elements of any U.S. policy to Latin America, it will be clear why the U.S. cannot realistically adopt one policy to Latin America and another for the rest of the developing world, and why a single foreign policy to a region as heterogeneous as Latin America is not the best way to approach the problem.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor, Subject Files, Box 64, PRM–17 [Latin America]: 1/77–3/14/77)
5. A January 25 draft of this PRM included the following additional sentences here: “Do covert operations or other forms of intervention damage or further U.S. interests in Latin America and the Caribbean? What can be done about Latin American perceptions of covert U.S. interference in their internal affairs?” In a January 26 memorandum to Brzezinski, Pastor attached this draft and noted that Einaudi had redrafted those sentences to read: “What is the Latin American perception of our past covert and military intervention and of our future intentions in this respect? How can those perceptions be dealt with most effectively?” Pastor wrote to Brzezinski: “I felt that this formulation focused attention on Latin American perceptions rather than on the reality of covert operations and whether we should continue to undertake them (some or all) in Latin America and the Caribbean” and that Lake had recommended that “this question should be addressed” in the SCC. Pastor continued: “Given the very real and continued importance of this issue in U.S.-Latin American relations, I do not believe a review of overall U.S. policy would be complete without a good discussion of the past and the future of covert operations in the hemisphere.” (Carter Library, National Security Council, Institutional Files, 1977–1980, Box 38, PRM–17 [1])
6. Carter signed the American Convention on Human Rights on June 1. (Public Papers: Carter, 1977, Book I, pp. 1050–1051)
7. The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, a treaty of mutual defense also known as the Rio Treaty or Rio Pact, was signed in Rio de Janeiro on September 2, 1947. For the full text, see the Department of State Bulletin, September 21, 1947, pp. 565–567.