South America; Latin America Region, 1977–1980

384 Pages·2017·3.29 MB·English

FOREIGN
RELATIONS
OF THE
UNITED
STATES
1977–1980
Volume XXIV
SOUTH AMERICA;
LATIN AMERICA
REGION
DEPARTMENT
OF
STATE
Washington
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DEPARTMENTOFSTATE
OfficeoftheHistorian
BureauofPublicAffairs
ForsalebytheSuperintendentofDocuments,U.S.GovernmentPublishingOffice
Internet:bookstore.gpo.gov Phone:tollfree(866)512-1800; DCarea(202)512-1800
Fax:[phone]Mail:StopIDCC,Washington,DC20402-0001
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About the Series
TheForeignRelationsoftheUnitedStatesseriespresentstheofficial
documentary historical record of major foreign policy decisions and
significantdiplomaticactivityoftheU.S.Government.TheHistorianof
theDepartmentofStateischargedwiththeresponsibilityfortheprep-
arationoftheForeignRelationsseries.ThestaffoftheOfficeoftheHisto-
rian,BureauofPublicAffairs,underthedirectionoftheGeneralEditor
oftheForeignRelationsseries,plans,researches,compiles,andeditsthe
volumesintheseries.SecretaryofStateFrankB.Kelloggfirstpromul-
gatedofficialregulationscodifyingspecificstandardsfortheselection
andeditingofdocumentsfortheseriesonMarch26,1925.Theseregu-
lations,withminor modifications,guidedthe seriesthrough1991.
Public Law 102–138, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, es-
tablishedanewstatutorycharterforthepreparationoftheserieswhich
was signed by President George H.W. Bush on October 28, 1991. Sec-
tion 198 of P.L. 102–138 added a new Title IV to the Department of
State’sBasicAuthoritiesAct of 1956 (22U.S.C. 4351,etseq.).
ThestatuterequiresthattheForeignRelationsseriesbeathorough,
accurate,andreliablerecordofmajorU.S.foreignpolicydecisionsand
significant U.S. diplomatic activity. The volumes of the series should
include all records needed to provide comprehensive documentation
ofmajor foreignpolicy decisions andactionsof the U.S. Government.
The statute also confirms the editing principles established by Secre-
taryKellogg: theForeign Relationsseries isguidedby the principles of
historicalobjectivityandaccuracy;recordsshouldnotbealteredorde-
letions made without indicating in the published text that a deletion
hasbeenmade;thepublishedrecordshouldomitnofactsthatwereof
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quires that the Foreign Relations series be published not more than 30
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ume meets all regulatory, statutory, and scholarly standards of selec-
tionandediting.
SourcesfortheForeignRelations Series
TheForeignRelations statuterequires thatthe published record in
theForeignRelationsseriesincludeallrecordsneededtoprovide com-
prehensive documentation of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and
significantU.S.diplomaticactivity.Itfurtherrequiresthatgovernment
agencies, departments, and other entities of the U.S. Government en-
III
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IV AbouttheSeries
gaged in foreign policy formulation, execution, or support cooperate
withtheDepartmentofStatehistoriansbyprovidingfullandcomplete
accesstorecordspertinenttoforeignpolicydecisionsandactionsand
byprovidingcopiesofselectedrecords.Mostofthesourcesconsulted
inthepreparationofthisvolumehavebeendeclassifiedandareavail-
able for review at the National Archives and Records Administration
(ArchivesII),in CollegePark,Maryland.
Theeditorsof the ForeignRelations series have complete access to
alltheretiredrecordsandpapersoftheDepartmentofState:thecentral
filesoftheDepartment;thespecialdecentralizedfiles(“lotfiles”)ofthe
Departmentatthebureau,office,anddivisionlevels;thefilesoftheDe-
partment’sExecutiveSecretariat,whichcontaintherecordsofinterna-
tional conferences and high-level official visits, correspondence with
foreignleadersbythePresidentandSecretaryofState,andthememo-
randaofconversationsbetweenthePresidentandtheSecretaryofState
and foreign officials; and the files of overseas diplomatic posts. All of
theDepartment’scentralfilesfor 1977–1981areavailablein electronic
or microfilm formats at Archives II, and may be accessed using the
Access to Archival Databases (AAD) tool. Almost all of the Depart-
ment’s decentralized office files covering this period, which the Na-
tionalArchivesdeemsworthyofpermanentretention,havebeentrans-
ferred to or are in the process of being transferred from the
Department’scustodytoArchives II.
ResearchforForeignRelationsvolumesisundertakenthroughspe-
cialaccesstorestricteddocumentsattheJimmyCarterPresidentialLi-
braryandotheragencies.Whileallthematerialprintedinthisvolume
hasbeendeclassified,someofitisextractedfromstill-classifieddocu-
ments. The staff of the Carter Library is processing and declassifying
manyofthedocumentsusedinthisvolume,buttheymaynotbeavail-
able in their entirety at the time of publication. Presidential papers
maintained and preserved at the Carter Library include some of the
most significant foreign-affairs related documentation from White
House offices, the Department of State, and other federal agencies in-
cludingtheNationalSecurityCouncil,theCentralIntelligenceAgency,
theDepartment of Defense,andthe JointChiefs of Staff.
Some of the research for volumes in this subseries was done in
CarterLibraryrecordcollectionsscannedfortheRemoteArchiveCap-
ture(RAC)project.Thisproject,whichisadministeredbytheNational
ArchivesandRecordsAdministration’sOfficeofPresidentialLibraries,
was designed to coordinate the declassification of still-classified
recordsheldinvariousPresidentiallibraries.Asaresultofthewayin
whichrecordswerescannedfortheRAC,theeditorsoftheForeignRe-
lationsserieswerenotalwaysabletodeterminewhetherattachmentsto
agivendocumentwereinfactattachedtothepapercopyofthedocu-
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AbouttheSeries V
mentintheCarterLibraryfile.Insuchcases,someeditorsoftheForeign
Relationsserieshaveindicatedthisambiguitybystatingthattheattach-
mentswere “Notfoundattached.”
EditorialMethodology
Thedocumentsarepresentedchronologicallyaccordingtotimein
Washington,DC.Memorandaofconversationareplacedaccordingto
thetimeanddateoftheconversation,ratherthanthe date the memo-
randumwas drafted.
EditorialtreatmentofthedocumentspublishedintheForeignRela-
tionsseriesfollowsOfficestyleguidelines,supplementedbyguidance
fromtheGeneralEditorandtheChiefoftheDeclassificationandPub-
lishing Division. The original document is reproduced as exactly as
possible,includingmarginaliaorothernotations,whicharedescribed
in the footnotes. Texts are transcribed and printed according to ac-
ceptedconventionsfor thepublication of historical documents within
thelimitationsofmoderntypography.Aheadinghasbeensuppliedby
theeditorsforeachdocumentincludedinthevolume.Spelling,capital-
ization,andpunctuationareretainedasfoundin theoriginal text, ex-
cept that obvious typographical errors are silently corrected. Other
mistakes and omissions in the documents are corrected by bracketed
insertions:acorrectionis set initalictype; an addition in roman type.
Words or phrases underlined in the original document are printed in
italics. Abbreviations and contractions are preserved as found in the
original text, and a list of abbreviations and terms is included in the
front matter of each volume. In telegrams, the telegram number (in-
cludingspecialdesignatorssuchasSecto) isprinted atthe startof the
textof the telegram.
Bracketed insertions are also used to indicate omitted text that
dealswithanunrelatedsubject(inromantype)orthatremainsclassi-
fied after declassification review (in italic type). The amount and,
where possible, the nature of the material not declassified has been
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ted.Entiredocumentswithheldafterdeclassificationreviewhavebeen
accountedforandarelistedintheirchronologicalplacewithheadings,
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Allbracketsthatappearintheoriginaldocumentaresoidentified
inthe footnotes.Allellipsesare inthe originaldocuments.
The first footnote to each document indicates the sources of the
document and its original classification, distribution, and drafting in-
formation.Thisnotealsoprovidesthebackgroundofimportantdocu-
ments and policies and indicates whether the President or his major
policyadvisers read the document.
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VI AbouttheSeries
Editorial notes and additional annotation summarize pertinent
materialnotprinted inthe volume, indicate the location of additional
documentary sources, provide references to important related docu-
mentsprintedinothervolumes,describekeyevents,andprovidesum-
mariesofandcitationstopublicstatementsthatsupplementandeluci-
date the printed documents. Information derived from memoirs and
other first-hand accounts has been used when appropriate to supple-
mentorexplicatethe official record.
Thenumbersintheindexrefertodocumentnumbersrather than
topagenumbers.
AdvisoryCommittee onHistoricalDiplomatic Documentation
The Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documenta-
tion,establishedundertheForeignRelationsstatute,monitorstheover-
allcompilationandeditorialprocessoftheseriesandadvisesonallas-
pects of the preparation of the series and declassification of records.
The Advisory Committee does not necessarily review the contents of
individual volumes in the series, but it makes recommendations on
issuesthatcometoitsattentionandreviewsvolumesasitdeemsneces-
sarytofulfill itsadvisoryand statutoryobligations.
DeclassificationReview
The Office of Information Programs and Services, Bureau of Ad-
ministration,conductedthedeclassificationreviewfortheDepartment
of State of the documents published in this volume. The review was
conducted in accordance with the standards set forth in Executive
Order 13526 on Classified National Security Information and appli-
cablelaws.
Theprincipleguidingdeclassificationreviewistoreleaseallinfor-
mation,subjectonlytothecurrentrequirementsofnationalsecurityas
embodied in law and regulation. Declassification decisions entailed
concurrence of the appropriate geographic and functional bureaus in
theDepartmentofState,otherconcernedagenciesoftheU.S.Govern-
ment,andtheappropriateforeigngovernmentsregardingspecificdoc-
uments of those governments. The declassification review of this vol-
ume,whichbeganin 2016andwas completedin2017,resulted in the
decisiontowithhold7documentsinfull,exciseaparagraphormorein
6documents,andmakeminorexcisionsoflessthanaparagraphin44
documents.
TheOfficeoftheHistorianisconfident,onthebasisoftheresearch
conductedinpreparingthisvolumeandasaresultofthedeclassifica-
tionreviewprocessdescribedabove,thatthedocumentationandedito-
rial notes presented here provide a thorough, accurate, and reliable
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AbouttheSeries VII
recordoftheCarteradministration’spolicytowardSouthAmericaand
theLatinAmericaregion.
AdamHoward
Acting Historian
Bureauof Public Affairs
December 2018
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Preface
StructureandScope oftheForeign Relations Series
This volume is part of a subseries of volumes of the Foreign Rela-
tions series that documents the most important issues in the foreign
policyoftheadministrationofJimmyCarter.Thisvolumedocuments
thepoliciesoftheCarteradministrationtowardSouthAmerica,aswell
as providing documentation on the goals and policies of the Carter
administrationtowardtheLatinAmericaregionasawhole.Forfurther
coverage of Latin America, see Foreign Relations of the United States,
1977–1980, Volume XV; Central America, 1977–1980 and Foreign Rela-
tionsoftheUnited States, 1977–1980, Volume XXIII; Mexico, Cuba, and
theCaribbean.
FocusofResearchandPrinciples ofSelectionforForeign Relations,
1977–1980,VolumeXXIV
ThisvolumedocumentsU.S.foreignpolicytoward10countriesin
SouthAmerica.Italsoincludesaregionalcompilationcontainingdoc-
umentation on broad Carter administration goals and issues
throughoutLatinAmericaandthe Caribbean.
The Carter administration’s human rights policy made both a
broadandunpredictableimpactonU.S.relationswithSouthAmerican
nations.InEcuador,thepolicyledtheUnitedStatestopressforthefirst
free elections in six years, which were held successfully. The same
focus on elections in Bolivia, however, could not stave off a period of
political instability that saw four coups in just over two years, in-
cludingthenotorious“cocainecoup”inJuly1980.U.S.suspicionsthat
Argentine military advisors had supported the July 1980 coup in Bo-
liviaare alsocovered.
The military dictatorships of the Southern Cone interacted with
humanrightspolicyincomplexways.OfficialsintheCarteradminis-
tration could not agree on the most important goal for U.S. policy
towards Argentina. Some officials, led by Assistant Secretary of State
forHumanRightsandHumanitarianAffairsPatriciaDerian,soughtto
endhumanrightsviolationsinArgentinathroughcontinuouspressure
on the Argentine junta. Other officials, more concerned with the sta-
bility of the Argentine Government and its economic and other pol-
icies,triednottoalienatethejunta,especiallyasitsleader,JorgeVidela,
was seen by some administration officials as a moderate and a vital
partnerintheefforttoendhumanrightsviolations.Thisvolumecovers
in broad strokes U.S. efforts to influence Argentina through financial
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X Preface
instrumentssuchasmilitarysales,grantprograms,anditsvotesinthe
internationalfinancialinstitutions.
Thisvolumealsotouchesonadministrationperceptionsofthedif-
ferentdegreestowhichtheUruguayanandParaguayanGovernments
were willing to reform their human rights practices and accept moni-
toringfrominternationalbodies,whichledtoacoolingtowardsPara-
guay and a warming towards Uruguay over the course of the Carter
presidency.Theongoinginvestigationintotheassassinationsofformer
ChileanForeignMinisterOrlandoLetelierandU.S.citizenRonniMof-
fittinWashingtonin1976alsoledtoadeepchillinU.S.relationswith
Chileduring mostof the Carteradministration.
Compilations regarding U.S. policy toward a number of other
countries focus on issues other than human rights. In Venezuela, the
CarteradministrationenjoyedacloseworkingrelationshipwithPresi-
dentCarlosAndresPerez,encompassedbysomecooperationonCen-
tral America and ongoing investigations into the Cubana Airlines
bombingandLetelierassassination.Theadministrationonlypaidocca-
sionalhigh-levelattentiontoColombia,mostnotablyduringahostage
crisisinvolvingU.S.AmbassadorDiegoAsencio.Thecompilationcov-
ering Peru focuses on complex U.S. relations with its leftist military
junta, dealing with the Peruvian economic crisis, and eventual elec-
tions. U.S. relations with Brazil were generally cool during the Carter
administration, with disputes over non-proliferation, trade, and
humanrightsat theforefront of bilateralproblems.
Thecompilationon the LatinAmericaregionin thisvolume con-
tains documentation on broad administration goals in the region and
guidingdocumentssuchasPRM–17.Inaddition,theregionalcompila-
tioncontainsdocumentationonU.S.policyregardingmultipleborder
disputes,includingthedisputeovertheBeagleChannelbetweenChile
andArgentina.High-levelmeetingswithmultiplehemisphericleaders
are also covered in this compilation, including those head of state
meetings which took place in the White House at the time of the
signingofthePanamaCanalTreatiesin1977.Finally,theregionalcom-
pilationcontains documentation on humanrightspolicy as it affected
and was implemented in South America as a whole, including docu-
mentationon OperationCondor.
Some topics are prominent in the documentary record regarding
U.S.policyinSouthAmerica,butare covered inother volumesin the
subseries. The administration’s guiding documents regarding human
rights policy, including those regarding Deputy Secretary of State
Warren Christopher’s Interagency Group on Human Rights and For-
eignAssistance,areprintedinForeignRelations,1977–1980,VolumeII,
HumanRightsandHumanitarianAffairs.Afewdocumentsregarding
U.S. knowledge of the beginning of the dispute between the United
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