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428080211
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Telephone Conversation with Carlos Andres Perez, President of Venezuela
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1
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id
428080211
contentType
document
title
Telephone Conversation with Carlos Andres Perez, President of Venezuela
citationUrl
collections
Records of the National Security Council (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Presidential Telcon Files
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Venezuela
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428080211
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22
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1989-08-22
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8
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1989
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nara-archive
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b72a2f5b776684ae
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CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
6637
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
DECLASSIFIED
PER E.O. 12958,
AS AMENDED
2000-0429-F
MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
zr 8/21/09
SUBJECT:
Telephone Conversation with Carlos
Andres Perez, President of Venezuela
PARTICIPANTS:
The President
Carlos Andres Perez, President of
Venezuela
Notetaker: William Pryce
DATE, TIME
August 22, 1989, 1:17-1:32 p.m., EDT
& PLACE:
Kennebunkport
The President telephoned President Perez regarding the
Organization of American States' action on Panama.
(d)
The President: Hello Mr. President, how are you? (U)
President Perez: Fine, thank you. It's a pleasure to hear your
voice.
(U)
The President: So glad to hear your voice. I'm sitting up here
in Maine by the seashore on a beautiful day, but I was calling
you on the matter of the Organization of American States and
Panama. (φ)
President Perez: I'm very interested in hearing your views on
that Mr. President because I think the OAS has basically failed.
(f)
The President: Maybe so, but tomorrow there will be another
meeting, as you know. /I would like to make a proposal that I
hope Venezuela could take the lead on or be supportive of. The
OAS Commission has a broad outline of a possible solution: (1)
Noriega out by September 1; (2) formation of a transition
government on September 1; and (3) new elections. And of course
if that takes place, the United States would, as I think I told
you, move immediately to lift our sanctions and try to be helpful
to the people of Panama. Like you, I am worried about the OAS as
you just said. I hope we do not have to say that it has failed
totally. But tomorrow we have a chance at the OAS meeting to
make it clear that if Noriega has not agreed to leave power by
September 1, that he is responsible for the lack of a solution.
Then, of course, we'd like to see sanctions which might include
CONFIDENTIAL
Declassify on: OADR
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2
breaking diplomatic relations, withdrawal of Ambassadors or
military attaches, kicking Panama out of the OAS, or applying
further economic sanctions.
And I have just hung up the phone from talking to your old friend
and my new friend, Michael Manley of Jamaica, who incidentally
asked me to convey his respects to you. I told him I was calling
you and he said Carlos Andres Perez is the most respected figure
in our hemisphere for this kind of matter. Manley said he is
urging his Ambassador to get the CARICOM Ambassadors, CARICOM
countries to strongly support what I have just said, a position
he has taken for a long time. We're back where we were. We need
a commitment from Noriega to get the hell out of there. There's
no point extending, in our view, the OAS Commission unless
there's a set date for Noriega. I was telling you this was our
view to see if you had any different thoughts, and to encourage
support for as strong a democratic action at the OAS tomorrow as
possible.
President Perez: I fully agree with your viewpoints, Mr.
President. I have been talking with other Latin American
Presidents myself. I am worried because I know of a great deal
of vacillation and because I'm convinced it is absolutely
essential that a strong decision be taken in that meeting
tomorrow. The OAS must adopt a decision in the terms that you
have said -- that the failure of the OAS Commission mandate be
ascribed entirely to Noriega for his refusal to leave power by
the first of September and there must be an agreement to set up
an interim government acceptable to the opposition and that an
election be invoked this calendar year. What I do not see is
that there's very much spirit in the air for breaking relations.
()
The President: That would be a step that might encourage Noriega
to move out if we could get more support for breaking relations,
even though none of us want to hurt the people of Panama. (d)
President Perez: I understand what you're saying. That's why
I'm saying the situation is very difficult. But in the rest of
today I'm going to be, talking to other Latin American Presidents
and to Washington to the OAS Commission to see if we can agree on
some formula. I agree with you I share your view that there has
got to be a strong resolution of condemnation tomorrow.
The President: I appreciate that. I knew that you would be
working on this and I just wish we could think of a good
formulation to get this man out of there. Manley said "we've got
to get this thug out of office." Have you had any vacation this
summer?
President Perez: It is hopelessly hard for me to take vacation
with the problem of the debt.
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3
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The President: Are we making any progress? I have talked with
my collaborators on this. We want to find a solution with
Venezuela. Do you feel there's any progress?
(L)
President Perez: There's no progress yet. But I have talked to
Mr. Mulford and he told me that you were very interested in an
early solution to the problem.
(c)
The President: We were pleased with the Mexican situation. I
think Salinas was pleased. I realize there are differences with
each country. If you see it getting hung up, if you feel they're
not being fair to Venezuela's considerations, I would like to
hear about that.
(L)
President Perez: Thank you, Mr. President. I know I can count
on your support in this. ()
The President: My best to you my friend, and I mean friend. I
am pleased we have a good relationship where we can talk about
these problems. (U)
President Perez: Thank you so much. You can count on me. I'm
so pleased with the way you are handling not only our problem but
the problem of Latin America in general. I hope to have
something specific on this Panama business by tonight, and if so
I will certainly let you know.
(C)
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