191. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to President Carter 1
SUBJECT
- People-to-People Strategy for the Caribbean Basin
After our meeting on Central America and the Caribbean in mid-October,2 I asked State to prepare a country-by-country inventory of non-governmental activities in the Caribbean Basin. My idea was that a people-to-people strategy would be much more effective if it were based on mobilizing and expanding existing resources, rather than creating new ones. The package, which is attached, contains the following: an inventory of existing private organizations active in the area; a description of efforts by state and local government in the area; suggestions on specific needs of individual countries in the region and how these organizations could help meet these needs; and a list of key organizations and people who we can use as a core group for a broader effort.3
Cy and I propose that you encourage the establishment of a new private non-profit “umbrella” commission to coordinate and expand the efforts of U.S. voluntary organizations in the Caribbean Basin. This group could be headed by a prominent person like Miami Mayor Ferre, who knows the region very well, and it should include leaders of these [Page 575] organizations plus state and local leaders (Jack Watson agrees that Ferre would be a good chairman.)4
The most important organizations working in the region, including the Committee on the Caribbean and the Council of the Americas, have organized an important conference on the Caribbean in Miami on November 28–30. If you approve of the proposal described above, then we ought to try to key our efforts to using that conference for launching this new initiative. Specifically, we could begin with the following steps:
(1) Cy and I could meet informally with a core group of leaders of these organizations to seek their views and encourage them to organize such an effort.
(2) We would draft messages for you to send to the Presidents of countries in the Caribbean Basin informing them of your idea for a people-to-people approach and asking their views on whether they would consider such an initiative helpful.
(3) On the eve of the Conference in the Caribbean, we could invite this entire group to the White House for you to meet with them and launch the Commission. The group could then use the Miami Conference, which will be attended by a number of Heads of State and other leaders from the Caribbean, to begin discussions, which would hopefully lead towards an overall plan for helping the region.
(4) Since you cannot attend the Miami Conference, perhaps you could tape a message which describes your policies and the people-to-people strategy, and that could be used as the keynote to the Conference.5 (As an alternative, the Vice President could speak on your behalf.)
(5) Our Ambassadors from the Caribbean area will be attending a Chiefs of Mission Conference in Washington on December 3rd and 4th. Perhaps they could be invited to a brief reception at the White House, where you could underscore your interest in the area.
(6) A Conference on Central America, which will be attended by leaders in the area, will be held in New Orleans on February 28, and we could use that event for the same purpose of mobilizing voluntary support.
These are some ideas for ways to get the people-to-people strategy moving. While this will be very important as a means to show the peoples of the area that the U.S. wants to help, we should not delude ourselves that more public resources will not be required. Almost all of the key non-governmental organizations, for example, the Partners [Page 576] of the Americas, were started by the government with public aid, and while they have received an increasing amount of their funds from private sources, they still receive government money. We will make clear to them that little or no additional federal funds will be available for expanded activities, but we may need to be flexible on this point.
RECOMMENDATION:
That you approve the proposal for a private, non-governmental organization to coordinate and expand activities in the Caribbean Basin, and the steps described above.6
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South Pastor Files, Country Files, Box 6, Caribbean: People-to-People, 11/79. Unclassified with Confidential attachment. Although the memorandum is undated, Brzezinski wrote “Nov. 16 ‛79” in the top right-hand corner of the memorandum.↩
- Presumably a reference to an October 19 presidential meeting on Latin America and the Caribbean. During the course of the meeting, the President highlighted the utility of people-to-people initiatives: “It is wrong to think that we can buy friends, and I think that is our major problem. I don’t think that people in the area think that the US really cares about them, that we are their friends. There are many ways we can demonstrate this interest. We have a thousand major universities in the US and I could call and ask them to participate in a program to help the area. If I called some business leaders and told them we have a problem, and divided up responsibilities, I am sure they would be glad to help. I believe we could really help if we did this. The American people would be happy to establish friendly relations directly with the people of the area. I don’t feel that the people in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and perhaps even in Costa Rica feel that we care about them; perhaps they think that Cuba does.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Office, Presidential Advisory File, Box 83, Sensitive XX, 10/13/1979–10/31/1979) The summary of conclusions from the meeting is scheduled for publication in both Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, vol. XV, Central America and Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, vol. XXIII, Mexico, Cuba, and the Caribbean.↩
- Printed as Document 190.↩
- Brzezinski placed a vertical line in the left-hand margin next to this paragraph.↩
- On November 28, in the Cabinet Room at the White House, the President recorded a video-taped message for delegates attending the Miami Conference on the Caribbean. For the text, see Public Papers: Carter, 1979, Book II, pp. 2159–2161.↩
- The President approved this recommendation.↩