Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
235149222
label
Central America IV (3 of 4)
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
235149222
contentType
document
title
Central America IV (3 of 4)
citationUrl
collections
Records of the White House Office of Public Liaison (Reagan Administration)
Morton Blackwell's Files on Central America
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
235149222
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
89bce57f956090ae
ocrText
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Digital Library Collections
This is a PDF of a folder from our textual collections.
Collection: Blackwell, Morton: Files
Folder Title: Central America - IV
(3 of 4)
Box: 54
To see more digitized collections visit:
https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library
To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library inventories visit:
https://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection
Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected]
Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing
National Archives Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/
PERSECUTION OF MISKITO INDIANS
Shortly after the Sandinistas came to power, they
started resettling the Miskito Indians from their traditional
area along the border. They resettled them because they
wanted to re-establish control over the border AND the Miskito
Indians who had historically been an independent peoples.
Even Somoza allowed them to maintain their own culture and
traditions.
Historically the Miskito Indians HAD NOT been politically
involved. They had kept to themselves. However, since many
of them spoke English and were a group apart (independent) the
Sandinistas decided that they had to establish their (Sandinista)
control.
The entire economy and culture of the Miskito Indians was
based on the river where they had lived for centuries, the
decision by the Sandinistas to move them to the interior of
the country, to "resettle them" totally disrupted their social
and economic way of life. Therefore, 10,000 of them fled
to Honduras immediately. Of the few who remained, most have
now fled to Costa Rica.
(Information received from:
Mr. Roger Snyder,
Department of State
HA/HR
Main State Building
Washington, D.C. 20520
Phone: 632-4833)
NOTE: Mr. Snyder called at the behest of Ambassador Otto J. Reich.
PERSECUTION OF CATHOLICS
The government of Nicaragua has been harassing and
to some extent attacking the Nicaraguan Catholic Church
focusing their attacks on Archbishop Obando y Bravo. (Arch-
bishop Bravo is very popular with the people of Nicaragua.)
It is interesting to note that the Archbishop had openly
opposed Somosa in the latter days of the Somosa government.
Archbishop Bravo has consistently stood up for religious
freedom, pluralism and democracy in Nicaragua and therefore,
has been the traget of Sandinista rath. Because of his refusal
to accept the party line, the Sandinistas have prohibited
him from appearing on TV to celebrate mass on Sundays. (Prior
to this time, each Sunday either the Archbishop or a priest
delegated by him had appeared on TV celebrating the mass. The
Archbishop has refused to allow the government to tell him
who may and who may not celebrate the mass. Because of this,
the government has reacted by cancelling the televising of the
mass totally.)
Last August (1982) there were some particularly serious
incidents involving the Archbishop and others. Some turbas
(mobs) attacked the Archbishop's representative when he was
going to a church to remove some religious objects to signify
that the sacrament could no longer be celebrated at that
church. The Archbishop had ordered the removal of the objects
because the priest of the church had refused to accept the
discipline of the church and actively opposed the church and
supported the Sandinistas.
Another incident involved a Catholic church school.
Some teachers in the school who supported the Archbishop were
forced to leave the country.
In another incident, Monsignor Caraballo, the Archbishop's
spokesman was visiting an ill parishioner in downtown Managua.
Some people forced their way into the home, forced the
Monsignor to disrobe and then forced the Monsignor into the
street where a government television crew was awaiting to
film the entire event. The government claimed that the TV
crew "happened to be going by" when the Monsignor who was
- 2 -
alleged to be having an affair with the wife of the parishioner
and who was alleged to have been found in bed by the husband,
was driven, naked, into the streets.
Finally, during the recent visit of the Pope the
turbas (mob) began shouting "Power to the Government." These
demonstrations were noted throughout the world as very
rude and as having serious political overtones.
PERSECUTION OF THE PROTESTANTS
In August, 1982, the turbas seized a number of temples
of Jehovahs Witnesses; Seventh Day Adventists, and the Mormons.
Although most of the temples have been returned because
of the public outcry, two belonging to the Mormons and all
of the Jehovahs' Witness temples are still being held.
There is speculation that because the Jehovahs' Witnesses
are against military service this may be a motivating factor
in the government of Nicaragua not returning the temples to
the Witnesses.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
August 4, 1983
MEMORANDUM TO: JOHN TILLER
FROM:
Morton C. Blackwell
MB
SUBJECT:
Central American Briefings
This is to confirm our conversation of yesterday
pursuant to Mrs. Whittlesey's request that you work to
set up a series of briefings regarding Central American
policy.
Her idea is that you would undertake to arrange with
the appropriate Administration officials briefings for:
1. White House and EOB staff, which should be
cleared through Jim Baker's Office.
2. Presidential Appointees and appropriate
Schedule C staff in other Departments and
Agencies, which should be coordinated through
Craig Fuller's Office.
3. Members of Congress and their staffs,
coordinated through Ken Duberstein.
4. Appropriate State and local government
officials which should be coordinated through
Rick Neal in Lee Verstanding's Office.
You should work closely with Dolf Droge on this. He
is in charge of providing our speakers and briefers. Joyce
Thomann will help you reserve appropriate rooms in our complex.
I would think that the invitations to the briefings should
come not from the Office of Public Liaison, but from Lee
Verstanding with respect to the State and local officials,
Jim Baker with respect to White House and EOB personnel, etc.
This will lighten our administrative load considerably.
I will be happy to assist in every way and look
forward to chatting with you frequently as the series
progresses.
MCB:jet
CC: Faith Ryan Whittlesey
DEPARTMENT
NEWS RELEASE
OFFICE OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PUBLIC AFFAIRS
OF
AMERICA
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301
PLEASE NOTE DATE
HOLD FOR RELEASE
NO. 450-83
UNTIL 6:00 PM (EDT)
697-5131 (Info.)
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1983
697-3189 (Copies)
REMARKS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY BY
THE HONORABLE FRED C. IKLE
UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR POLICY
TO BALTIMORE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1983
I am delighted to be here this evening and to have the
opportunity to speak to you on this issue of such importance to us
all.
Central America is closer to Baltimore than is California--
in terms of geographic distance, that is. But the intellectual
distance between here and Central America is enormous. Most of
the American people are not well informed about Central America;
many are misinformed; and some are outright disdainful about
the cultural and social importance of this region.
You all have an obligation to remedy this situation, so that
you and your representatives in Congress can engage in constructive
support--or constructive criticism--of the Administration's policy.
To begin with, you should know that the President's policy
for Central America has not yet been given a chance to work:
Congress has denied the President the means to succeed.
Indeed, Congress has involved itself in the management of
US policy for Central America more than for any other region of
the world.
- While Congress has quickly and easily approved some four
and a half billion dollars in Security Assistance for
nations in the Mediterranean region, it slashed nearly
in half the much smaller allocation for nations in
the Caribbean region--so much closer to home.
- While Congress has been generally supportive of the deploy-
ment of some 1200 U.S. Marines to Lebanon, it fought fiercely
to limit the number of US trainers in El Salvador to 55.
MORE
2
- While Congress has not objected to large military
exercises in the faraway Indian Ocean region, it
heavily criticized the recent military exercises in the
Caribbean region.
- While Congress has for a long time supported Radio Free
Europe, the fine radio program that brings the truth to
the people of Eastern Europe, Congress has delayed for two
years President Reagan's request for Radio Marti, a new
radio station that would bring the truth to the people in
Cuba.
As we consult with members of Congress on these issues, we
are often told that, you, their constituents, are pressing such
positions on them. But as we review the public opinion polls, we
discover an extraordinary lack of information. For example, in
a recent New York Times/CBS poll, only 8 percent of the respondents
knew, both for El Salvador and Nicaragua, whether the US was
supporting the government or the insurgents.
You must help us overcome not only a lack of information,
but also a great deal of misinformation. This misinformation is
not accidental; it is the result of a well-organized and well
orchestrated effort. A fabric of fiction has been tightly woven
to conceal the essential facts. Let me review with you some of
these fictions:
Fiction has it that US influence in Central and Latin
America has prevented democratic development, that the spread of
Leninist regimes is the tide of history, à natural process of
social reform that we should not oppose. The fact is that the
trend toward democratization has continued: among the 32 indepen-
dent states of Latin America and the Caribbean, 17 are now democratic.
Since 1978, five countries have made a peaceful transition from
military regimes to elected democratic governments. It is the
much criticized military regimes that are often transformed into a
democracy; but there has never yet been a Marxist-Leninist regime
that was succeeded by democracy.
Another bit of fiction: that the Sandinista regime
in Nicaragua would have developed into a pluralistic democracy,
had it not been for the US intervention. The fact is that the Sandi-
nistas, only a few weeks after they came into power, reneged on
their promise for early elections, began to attack the democratic
trade unions, and invited Cuban military and security personnel
in steadily growing numbers. Yet, during the first 18 months of
the Sandinista regime, the United States provided more than $120
million in direct aid and endorsed over $220 million in Inter-
American Development Bank aid -- more than the previous Somoza
regime in Nicaragua had received from the United States in twenty
years! Clearly, it was not US interference that drove the
Sandinistas to link up with Fidel Castro -- unless economic aid
is regarded as "interference."
MORE
3
Another piece of fiction is the charge that the Reagan Admin-
istration is "militarizing" the problems of Central America and
is bringing the East-West conflict to the region. Well, the East
is already here. The Soviets are giving ten times as much
military assistance to Cuba and Nicaragua as we are providing to
all of Latin America. And Soviet military advisors in Cuba and
Nicaragua outnumber US military advisors in the Caribbean region
twenty to one.
*
*
Since Congress is so deeply involved in our day-to-day policy
towards Central America, our key objectives need to be clear to the
American people. Moreover, Congress must share with the Administra-
tion an understanding of our basic strategy.
On one thing we can all agree: We do not want the United
States to fail. We must succeed.
But what is it we would like to see happen, and what do we
want to prevent? We have wide agreement, I believe, that the
United States favors a continuation and strengthening of the
trend toward open, genuine democracy. And we favor social and
economic betterment for the people in Central America, a region
so close to us.
Equally important is what we want to prevent. We want to
prevent the expansion of totalitarian regimes -- particularly
Leninist ones, since they will import Stalinist police systems,
bring in Soviet arms, and even invite Soviet military bases.
There are two more reasons why Leninist regimes are particularly
dangerous: once entrenched, they tend to become irreversible,
and they usually seek to export their totalitarianism to other
nations.
Given these objectives, what should be our strategy?
I.
First, we want to help build the road toward democracy and
economic development. In the end, the people in each country
will have to make their own choices. They can succeed only through
their own dedicated effort. But we can help, through advice and
influence, by facilitating trade, and by giving aid. The Caribbean
Basin Initiative of the Reagan Administration (to which Congress
has now agreed) is right on target. So are our efforts in El
Salvador in behalf of elections and for improvements in the
judicial system.
Also, we are using diplomacy to help the government of El Salvador
win over those who are willing to abandon violence and compete in
elections, provided they can be assured of safe and fair partici-
pation. But we must not underestimate our adversaries. The hard
core among the insurgents will never settle for a fair democratic
process. We can no more negotiate an acceptable political solution
MORE
4
with these people then the social democrats in revolutionary
Russia could have talked Lenin into giving up totalitarian
Bolshevism.
II.
This leads us to the second requirement. As Secretary Shultz
recently explained, the guerillas in El Salvador have used a
"rule or ruin" strategy: they seek to destroy economic assets
faster than our aid can restore them. You cannot have economic
development in a nation, if guerilla forces keep blowing up
bridges, power lines, school buldings, buses
...
You have to de-
feat these "rule or ruin" forces militarily. This is the purpose
for our military assistance.
Every so often the critics of the Administration
proclaim -- with accusatory connotation -- that we seek a "military
solution" in El Salvador. If a "military solution" means putting
primary emphasis on military assistance and military means, then
it is more factual to accuse the Reagan Administration of
seeking an "economic solution," since three dollars out of four
in the requested assistance programs are for economic aid.
What we seek to do is to open the doors to democracy and
close the doors to violence. But we have to use military means
against those who insist--till they have imposed their rule--
on using violence.
Let me make this clear to you:
-- We do not seek a military defeat for our friends.
-- We do not seek a military stalemate.
-- We seek victory for the forces of democracy.
And that victory has two components:
One: Defeating militarily those organized forces of
violence that refuse to accept the democratic will of
the people.
Two: establishing an adequate internal system for
justice and personal security.
At this point, let us recall our first agreed principle:
We do not want the United States to fail. Hence, we must
allocate sufficient means so that we can succeed. As long as
Congress keeps crippling the President's military assistance
program, we will have a policy always shy of success. We will
remain locked into a protracted failure.
MORE
5
This the American people should not tolerate. If we are
merely involved to fail, then we should not be involved at all.
The resources needed to succeed are small compared to our
investment for security in other regions of the world. Once Congress
gives us the means to succeed, the capability and determination of
the United States will become clear. This will make the Soviet
Union more cautious, which in turn will help our success. On the
other hand, if we signal that we are afraid of victory over the
forces of violence, if we signal that we have opted for protracted
failure, we will only encourage the Soviets to redouble their
effort. We will be inviting ever-increasing difficulties.
III.
The third requirement of US strategy for Central America is
least well understood. We should seek to prevent the partition
of Central America, a division of this region into two spheres,
one linked to the Soviet bloc and one linked to the United States.
Such a partition would inexorably lead to a hostile confrontation
of large military forces, a confrontation that could last for decades.
We can see how such a confrontation works, as we look at
Cuba. During the 24 years of the Castro dictatorship, while the
standard of living deteriorated and human rights were widely violated,
Cuba built up a large military establishment. It has the second
largest army. in Latin America (second only to Brazil), it has some
200 MIG fighter aircraft, submarines, 6000 to 8000 Soviet advisors,
and several Soviet intelligence installations. In addition,
Castro has sent some 30 to 40 thousand troops abroad to provide the
mercenary forces to protect the Soviet imperial outposts. As a result
of the militarization of Cuba, our sealines to NATO are now seriously
threatened.
The Sandinista regime in Nicaragua is determined to create
a "second Cuba" in Central America. Ever since they seized
power, the Sandinistas embarked on a major military buildup.
Today, they have a much larger army than Somoza ever had, and they
have expressed the intention to build the largest force in Central
America. Nicaragua is building new military airfields, and is
importing Soviet tanks, helicopters, armored vehicles, and other
equipment.
This "second Cuba" in Nicaragua would be more dangerous
than Castro's Cuba since it shares hard to defend borders
with Honduras and Costa Rica. The Sandinistas have already
started terrorist activities in both these countries. In
addition, Nicaragua provides essential support for the insurgency
in El Salvador.
Even after the insurgency in El Salvador has been brought
under control, Nicaragua--if it continued on its present course--
would be the bridgehead and arsenal for insurgency for Central
America. And once the Sandinistas have acquired the military
strength that they have long been planning for, they might well
MORE
6
use that strength for direct attacks on their neighbors to help
speed up the "revolution without frontiers" that they promised us.
At that time, the only way to help protect the democracies
might be for the United States to place forward deployed forces in
these countries, as in Korea or West Germany. Clearly, we must prevent
such a partition of Central America.
Yet, Congress has so far failed to give the President
the means he requires to succeed. In the Democrats' response
to President Reagan's April 27 address on Central America to a
Joint Session of Congress, Senator Dodd said: "We will oppose the
establishment of Marxist states in Central America." Yet, the
Democratic majority in the House of Representatives has done exactly
the opposite. It voted to oppose US assistance to those who oppose
the establishment of a Marxist state in Nicaragua. That is to
say, the House, in effect, voted to establish a sanctuary for the
Sandinistas.
Congressional legislation to deny US support to the
democratic resistance forces in Nicaragua would turn Nicaragua
into a sanctuary from which the nations of Central America could be
safely attacked, but in which US supported forces could not
operate. This would enable the promoters of totalitarianism--
while being supplied and replenished by Cuba and the Soviet
bloc--to attack neighboring countries indefinitely, and always
with impunity. Hence, it would deprive the Marxist groups in El
Salvador of any incentive to compromise. Indeed, if such legislation
were passed, the Sandinistas and Cubans might well find it safe to
increase their assistance to the insurgents in El Salvador
and to step up the destablization of Honduras and Costa Rica.
This, after all, would be fully consistent with their presently
declared objectives; and the guaranteed sanctuary would render
such escalation almost risk-free.
The psychological impact from cutting off US assistance
to the Nicaraguan resistance forces fighting for democracy in their
native land would be severe. Such a cut off would signal throughout
the region that the totalitarian Leninist forces represent the
winning side. The democratic forces would have cause to despair.
They would see that terrorist and insurgent attacks against them
are being generously supported by Cuba and the Soviet bloc, and
that these attacks can be conducted from safe havens that are
protected by the US Congress, in effect, from all counter-interference.
Conversely, the totalitarian Lenist force would know that as soon
as they seize control of a country, they will be secure: Cuba and
the Soviet bloc will help them maintain an efficient police machinery
to repress the people; and should any group arise to fight for
freedom, the United States Congress would deny it all support.
*
MORE
7
Let me recapitulate.
Our basic objectives for Central America are clear: we want
to strengthen democracy; we want to prevent in this hemisphere the
expansion of totalitarian regimes, especially those linked to the
Soviet Union.
To this end, we extend economic support and promote
democratic development. But given forces of violence that will
not accept the democratic will of the people, we also have to
provide military assistance--enough to succeed. In addition, we
must prevent consolidation of a Sandinista regime in Nicaragua
that would become an arsenal for insurgency, a safe haven for the
export of violence. If we cannot prevent that, we have to antici-
pate the partition of Central America. Such a development would
then force us to man a new military front-line of the East-West
conflict, right here on our continent.
To prevent such an outcome, the Administration and Congress
must work together with a strategy that can succeed.
END
MDS 10/11/83
DATE
THE WHITE HOUSE
9/29/83
REQUISITION FOR DUPLICATING
FOR INFORMATION CONTACT
PROCESS (x)
NAME.
MULTILITH
JOYCE THOMANN
Your
DIVISION AND UNIT
PHONE
OPL
2657
cloice
ROOM NO.
BLOO.
XERON
191
OEOB
APPROVED
LATEST DELIVERY
DATE POMICLE
NOON
Authorized Requisitioning Officer
10/2/83
TITLE OR SUBJECT HEADING OF MATERIAL
Edited Transcript of Ambassador-at Large
Vernon A. Walters' Address of 8/24/83
PAGES or COPY
NO. OF COPIES OF EACH PAGE
ASSEMBLED
16
300
YES
MO
PAPER
COVER
FINISHED SIZE
White
N/A.
COLON
COLOR
8 1/2 " X 11 ..
PRINT
STAPLED
X
ONE SIDE
PADDED
COPIES TO PAO
DOTH SIDES
PUNCHED
HOLES (Sand Samples)
OTHER SPECIFICATIONS
Approved: Clearth Main
White House Administrative Office
10-11-83
DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIAL TO BE MADE AS INDICATED
WILL FREE
X
DELIVER AL
- 100
10
Joyce Thomann ROOM 191 NO. OEOB BLOO.
PUBLICATIONS UNIT
OTHER (Specify)
Time Completed RZ
RECEIVED BY
10-11-83
Date
Puplicator
Edited Transcript of Ambassador-at-Large
Vernon A. Walters' Address to the
Outreach Group on Wednesday, August 24,
1983, 1430 Hours, Room 450 EOB
I would like to talk a little bit about Central America,
an area which has occupied a considerable portion of my life
at various times and I would like to try, insofar as I can,
to dispel a number of myths concerning Central America.
You know the Hispanic peoples know what you mean when you
say the "Liendra Negra" - the "Black Legend". The black
legend is that the Spaniards went to South America and burned
the Indians, and all they were interested in was getting gold.
They were a mystery to the Indians and exterminated them and
generally didn't behave like we noble Anglo-Saxons who treated
ours so well. Well, the fact is that they had a couple of
=
universities going a hundred years before Harvard was founded.
And secondly, as one Spaniard said to me, "Our Indians are still
there. Where are yours?" That black legend has been transferred
to us. The other day I was in Spain and someone said "Well,
Willy Brandt and Carlos Andrez Perez put out a statement and
said that the United States is principally to blame for the
situation in Central America. What do you have to say about
that?" I said, "They are both distinguished statesmen. I
doubt that Carlos Andrez Perez made such a statement. He was
in my office recently and he certainly didn't say anything
like that to me. But I said, "You know, regardless of how
remarkable they are, it is just as difficult for them to be
always right as it is for the United States to be always wrong."
-2-
Now, one of the principal myths about Central America is
that it is our backyard. It is not our backyard; it is our
front lawn. And what happens there is of vital interest to
us. It is the land bridge between us and South America and
the incalculable reserves of that continent which we want to
make sure are lined up on the side of freedom. The second
myth is that the United States regards all insurrections
against injustice and oppression as Communist inspired.
They're not. But when they identify themselves as such, we
have to take them seriously. When Umberto Ortega, one of
the Nicaraguan Commandantes, says, "Marxism-Leninism is the
guide of Sandinismo, and without Marxism-Leninism, there
is no Sandinismo," we've got to take him seriously. That
is not the US saying it, that is Ortega himself saying that
he is. And he said it in a document put out by the Public
Relations Department of the People's National Sandinista Army
of Liberation. Fidel Castro, on the 6th of June, 1961, said,
"I became a Communist at the age of seventeen; I am one now,
and will be one until the day I die." So much for the
New York Times theory that we pushed him into their arms. I
mean, he said so himself. We didn't take Adloph Hitler's
Mein Kampf seriously either and it turned out to be quite
serious: About twenty five million dead. So it is not a
question of we regarding all of these people who are rebelling
against social injustice or against oppression, against various
forms of dictatorship, as all being Communist. Only when they
-3-
identify themselves to us as such. They will tell you now
that, "oh, Ortega said that." i.e. it is only rhetoric.
Maybe, but about half of the original junta has now fled
the country and are outside. So, evidently they feel the
democratic revolution was betrayed.
This area between the Panama Canal and the Rio Grande
River is vital to us because it contains one hundred million
people. One hundred million people whom we feel are entitled
to the same freedoms and democracies that we have. For whom we
wish a pluralistic society. The Soviets have an interesting
doctrine called the Brezhnev Doctrine. The Brezhnev Doctrine
says that when the Socialist Regime of any communist country
is threatened, the Red Army reserves the right to intervene
to guarantee the achievements of Socialism. Well, I am not
sure that we shouldn't have a doctrine that guarantees the
achievements of democracy. We apparently let the Monroe
Doctrine fall into what the lawyers, I believe, call desuetude.
And wouldn't it be a good idea if maybe we had a doctrine that
democracy deserves to be helped. Because if you look at the
history of the world, this century, one interesting fact
strikes you. Democracies almost never engage in aggressive
wars. They are almost always a factor of dictatorships,
right or left. By their nature they are driven to external
adventures. In democracies when you have to ask the people
to sanction a foreign war, unless it is a defensive war, very
rarely are they willing to do so. We abhorred Nazism, but
-4-
it still took Pearl Harbor to get us into the war. It is very
difficult to get a democracy to go to war other than in response
to an attack upon itself. And this is one of the reasons why,
not just philosophically but pragmatically, we believe a
pluralistic, democratic society is a good thing, not just for
us, but for the people of Central and South America and all
over the world in fact.
It is also a question of the maintenance of peace. You
are far more likely to have peace where there are democratic
regimes than where there are dictatorial regimes. And that
is a very powerful factor. Large wars often grow from small
wars. World War II grew out of a war between Poland and
Germany. World War I grew out of a war between Austria and
Serbia. So the important thing is that we do not have wars
which can grow. The third thing is that this area is not
just important to us. It is even more important that our
enemies do not obtain control of it. Because then we do
have a soft underbelly. Americans ask, what does El Salvador
have to do with me? Well, El Salvador is closer to San Antonio
than San Antonio is to Boston. You know, during the Falklands
crisis, Mrs. Thatcher at one point in Number Ten Downing Street
said, "It was in this room that Neville Chamberlain said,
speaking of Czechoslovakia in 1938, 'Why should we go to war
for this far distant country about which we know so little
and with which we have so little in common?' And," she added,
-5-
"because he did that, we had a war that killed twenty five
million people." So this is really the question that Cain
asked: "Am I my brother's keeper?" And in a world that is
the size of the one in which we now live, the answer is: Yes.
We all are our brother's keepers. Because the fate of our
brothers today may be ours tomorrow.
When you have a vast country with the resources of the
Soviet Union actively carrying out Lenin's dictum," Probe
with bayonets. If you run into steel, try somewhere else,"
it is important that they not find the absence of steel in
this area. It is important that they are not permitted to
enslave these hundred million people. They will tell you
that all of this is caused by poverty and oppression and
lack of freedom. If that were true, we would have a lot
more revolts in a lot more areas than we do. Certain areas
have been chosen. And -- this is a personal opinion -- my
opinion is that the real target of the Soviet planners in
that area is Mexico. If they could destabilize Mexico-- and
our Mexican friends insist there is no danger of this, and
perhaps they are right and perhaps they are wrong, but if
they are wrong, the price they will pay is very great -- how
much interest would the United States be able to pay to Europe,
Africa or Asia?
The people in Central America are no less people than
we are. If we like for ourselves the advantages of freedom and
democracy, why should we deny them to them. Economically we
-6-
don't care whether the society is socialist, capitalist or
mixed. Personally, I hope it is mixed or capitalist because
there is one thing I have always found about socialism, it
is undoubtedly one of the most noble doctrines man has ever
evolved, but it doesn't work. It hasn't worked anywhere. I
think we ought to give these people a chance to develop a
pluralistic, democratic society in which they have a chance
to change their mind, in which, if they want to try some ex-
periment, they have an occasion four years later to review that
experiment and see whether it was any good or not.
I think that is one of the key things that we want to
try and help them achieve. Democracy is in trouble in Central
America. It is under attack -in £entral America and if we don't
defend it, who will? It is not just under attack from local
forces; it is under attack from outside forces. All you have
to do is turn up the airwaves and hear the storm that beats
on those transistor radios throughout Central America every
night to know that it is under attack from outside and not
just from forces within each country.
People say, "Why don't you negotiate with the guerrillas?"
Well, we negotiated with Hitler -- we didn't, but the British
and French did in 1938, and it didn't turn out very well.
You've got to negotiate with strength, You've got to be able
to convince your adversaries that the route of force is not
a paying one. And also be able to convince your friends that,
-7-
if the other side chooses the route of force, you have the means
of meeting it. And above all, in my opinion, you must not freeze
yourself into any position of telling your adversaries what you
are going to do or telling them what you are not going to do.
Uncertainty is a very powerful weapon. If we had told Adolph
Hitler, as we told the North Vietnamese, that under no circum-
stances were we going to invade Germany, I just wonder how long
World War II would have gone on. We are told that the Sandinistas
are really representatives of the working peasant class who want
to till their soil, earn a living and not become a pawn in the
struggle between the superpowers. You know, I hear a faint echo.
That is what I heard about the North Vietnamese. They were just
representatives of the little peasants who wanted to till their
rice paddies and live their lives without becoming a pawn in
the struggle between the superpowers. Well, what happened? In
Vietnam, when you had a war going on, you had American bombs
falling all over the place; there was fighting in every village
and all the young men were being drafted into the South Vietnamese
army. There were no refugees. There were no boat people. When
liberation came, one million, two hundred thousand Vietnamese
chose to go out into the South China sea in open boats, risking
the pirates, the typhoons, the storms to escape from "liberation".
What, by the way, happened to those peasants who were going to
till their soil? Well, they don't have any soil to till. All
the soil belongs to the government. What about not becoming
a pawn in the struggle between the superpowers? Well, at Cam: Ranh
-8-
Bay there is today the largest electronics intelligence
station the Soviet Union maintains outside the Soviet Union
with the single exception of Lourdes in Cuba. And, if you
look at Cam Ranh Bay today, you can see Soviet aircraft on
the field. This for that part which said the North Vietnamese
didn't want to be subject to the Soviets, didn't want to be
subject to the Chinese; they just wanted to go their own
little independent way.
I submit that when Mr. Ortega tells us that Sandinismo
is guided by Marxism--Leninism, we have to take him seriously.
And, obviously, a large number of his fellow commandantes have
taken him seriously since a large number of the members of
the original junta have left because they realize that the
the revolution has been betrayed. And what does a "revolution
without frontiers" of which the Nicaraguans speak mean? It
means you keep going until you get to the U.S. border.
And you just take them one by one with the old salami tactics.
Everyone said the domino theory was discredited. Was it?
Vietnam fell. Cambodia fell with the greatest genocide in
history, proportionally to population. Laos fell. Those
two countries now are occupied by the Vietnamese. We were
told these were the little farmers that just wanted to cul-
tivate their little plots of rice and not bother anybody.
And that is exactly what we are hearing now about the
Sandinistas, who have the largest army in Central America,
an army that is not big enough to stop us but is far too big
-9-
for their neighbors. And, if they have and are talking about
this kind of an apparatus, what do they intend to do with it?
Protect themselves against the Hondurans or the Costa Ricans?
All is not by any means lost in this area. In Costa Rica
we have just had a democratic election. In Honduras we have
had a democratic election. In the Dominican Republic, where
we intervened in 1965 militarily over great protests, there have
been four separate changes of government by normal democratic
elections whose results no one has really challenged. If we
can just let democracy take root a little bit, have two, three
changes of government by ordinary democratic process, as it has
in Venezula for instance, this process will then become the
normal accepted process as up until now the normal accepted
process for change has been coups and violence.
If you have democracy, you have all the mechanisms of
change, change of any kind you want as long as you get enough
people to agree. But not irreversible change. In my lifetime
I have seen all the great right-wing authoritarian dictator-
ships in the world replaced by democracies. But I don't know,
and no one else in this room knows, what replaces a Communist
dictatorship because no one in this room has even seen one
replaced. The only possible exception was the Hungarian
Communist Regime of Bela Kun in Hungary in 1929 which was
ejected by the Romanian Army marching into Budapest and ejecting
it. Outside of that, I do not know of a single case where a
Communist regime has been reversible. It is not just the fact
that once the people go under this kind of a regime, there is
-10-
no longer any hope. The regime is in power, it has weapons
and it is quite prepared, in the name of its idealogy, to use
those weapons to keep itself in power. It impedes the means
of subverting the armed forces which, traditionally, in the case
of the Russian Revolution and so forth, is what occurred. You
got the soldiers to turn their guns against the regime. But
when they control all the means, all of the media, it is very
difficult to get to the soldiers to subvert them. And so it is
not just a philosophical preference for a political pluralistic
society, for an opportunity for the people to pronounce them-
selves in a fixed period of time on whatever experiments that
they undertake, but it is the question of guaranteeing to these
people the right to live as human beings and not as slaves.
And this is the real issue in Central America and in the
Caribbean. It is not a question of a border issue, it is not
a question of a particular class of society, it is a question
of the fundamental rights of people. Whether we believe these
people are entitled to the same rights as we are.
And if we do, and they are under attack, and their hope for
the future and for freedom is under attack, it is up to us
to do whatever is necessary to help them to preserve or to
gain for the first time, in some cases, the possibility of
being free and of controlling their own destiny.
Now in the case of Nicaragua, once again, we have this
myth that the United States pushed them into the arms of
the Communists, that that is not where they really were going.
- 11 -
Well, perhaps not. I would simply point out that after the
revolution in September of 1979, Mr. Rabello and Daniel
Ortega were received by President Carter at the White House.
Fidel Castro, I might add, paraded down Broadway under
the confetti after he was victorious. Now, the myth is that
the United States supports the military dictators. I submit
that both Batista and Somoza fell when the United States made
it clear that they were not going to sell them what they needed
to stay in power. I would simply add, from the financial point
of view, that to this day the largest donor of aid to Nicaragua
has been the United States. And in the first three years after
they came to power we gave the Sandinistas more money than we
gave Somoza in seventeen years. So it certainly isn't that we
turned our backs on them and refused to help them. They chose
the path of supporting the Soviet Union, or supporting a Marxist
ideal because they believed in it.
You know we always have a tendency to believe that no one
is really a Marxist. There are convinced Marxists; I have
talked to them. It is an article of religious faith with them.
I personally happen to believe that Fidel Castro is a more
devout Marxist than Yuri Andropov. Yuri Andropov is in power
and he wants to stay there. I think Fidel really believes all
the stuff he's been saying. And that is very dangerous, when
you begin to believe your own oratory. So I think we have to
realize that there is a great deal at stake. Now the Europeans
have this myth of Uncle Sam the Goliath beating up on the poor
little small countries of Central America and with military aide
-12-
we are always looking for military solutions. Well we are
not. The President said something like seventy percent of
our assistance has been economic. But all the economic
assistance is not going to do you any good if you don't have
some kind of security shield. So many people have adopted an
economic deterministic view -- that if you are economically
strong, that is all you need. Well, I look at history and
every time I think about the gross national product of Macedonia
under Alexander and the Persian Empire which he overthrew, or I
think of the gross national product of the Germanic tribes emerging
from the Northern forests wearing their animal skins, and the
Roman Empire, which was unquestionably the largest, most productive
economic unit that had appeared in the world until that time, I am
reminded of the story that after Waterloo, Wellington invited
Marshal Blucher to London and took him up the newly-inaugurated
Nelson column. Blucher looked out over the city and under his
breath he muttered, "What a city to loot!"
When people tell me that economic strength is all that
is necessary and that there are no military solutions, I always
suggest that whoever believes that go tell the Greeks because it
was Constantinople for eleven centuries, but as a result of some
military activities, it has been Istanbul ever since. And then
I remember from my own lifetime that Germany entered World War II
practically without a gold reserve, with food rationing in effect
and with currency controls. It was six years against the rest
-13-
of the world and it was a pretty close-run thing. When
you have people imbued with a kind of semi-religious faith,
the kind of fanaticism that Marxism brings with it, you've
got to understand that you have a real danger on your hands.
A danger not only to the United States, but, most of all, and
this people lose sight of, to the people of Central America.
It is they who are going to lose their freedom in the short
term. We may lose ours, if we lose them, in the longer term,
but they are going to lose whatever freedom they have, just
like Vietnam. Vietnam was not a perfect society by any means
but there were thirty newspapers in Saigon under Thieu. Some
were suspended; some were fined. You know how many there are
now? One. The Party Organ. So, there are all kinds of things
at stake that do not immediately escape us.
Finally, that brings me to another item which I think is
of fundamental importance. The one thing that all Communist
revolutions have in common, is that they engender huge quantities
of refugees. From Hungary, there were four hundred thousand.
From Cuba, there were eight hundred thousand. And that won for
Cuba the title of the largest country in the world. The
administration is in Havana; the government is in Moscow;
the army is in Africa; and the population is in Florida.
Now, Cuba is an island. Central America is not an island.
We've had boat people from Vietnam. If we lose Central America,
we are going to have a minimum of ten million foot people and
they won't be foot people all the way. Because when they get
-14-
to the Guatemalan/Mexican border there will be buses
waiting to take them to Nogales, Tijuana, Brownsville
and Laredo. And someone there to say, "Por Aqui, Senores",
that way. Now this is a country that was made by refugees
but they didn't come in these enormous waves all at once.
Refugees have built the United States but they came in over
a period of time in some kind of order. We have ten million
unemployed. What are we going to do if we get ten million
refugees? Who is going to provide them jobs? Who is going
to provide them with housing, schools, social security? These
will be people who have lost everything. They will be willing
to work for any salary. What will the impact of that be on
the American job market? And you know, these people will want
to stay--I always tell this to my Democratic friends in
Congress from the southern part of the United States--they
will want to stay where it is warm. And after they have
been here a while, they will become naturalized. And they
will be very anti-Communist and they will all register as
Republicans and that is not in your interest.
We face a very crucial problem, not unlike the ones
the British and French faced when the Germans remilitarized
the Rhineland. We now know that the German units that went
into the Rhineland had orders, if the French reacted, to pull
out at once. They remilitarized the Rhineland, they took the
Saar, they took Austria, they took the Sudetenland, they
took the whole of Czechoslavakia, they took Memel, and
finally the war burst over Poland. But by that time the
-15-
Skoda works in Czechoslavakia were working for the Germans,
not against them. Churchill once said--and this is an eternal
truth You cannot slake the appetite of dictators by throwing
them small countries to eat. Their appetite grows while they
eat." As they digest Cuba, they will move on to the mainland--
to Nicaragua. And when they have digested Nicaragua, they
will digest Salvador. And then Honduras, and then Guatamala,
and then it will be Mexico's turn. Now the Mexicans are con-
vinced that no danger threatens them. I wish I could agree
with them. I certainly hope that no danger threatens them
but I do remember what Blucher said: What a city to loot.
There is for us a choice now. We can either make a stand
and defend regimes that are admittedly not perfect. But,
is the solution to a flawed regime to replace it with a
totally irreversible totalitarian Marxist dictatorship?
Is that the answer? Because the Salvadorans or the
Hondurans or the Guatamalan government do something that
we don't like, is the answer to turn them over to a
totalitarian dictatorship which will not be extinguished in
our lifetime? That is not the solution and we all know it.
And if that is not the solution, then it is our duty as a
people, it is our duty as people who believe in freedom, who
believe in the equality of all men, to do what we can to pro-
tect these peoples' right to decide their own future. And
that, simply put, is the whole issue in Central America.
And I am an optimist. Because if you look at the whole
-16-
course of human history since we came out of the caves;
the course of that history has been in the direction of
greater freedom and dignity for the individual. Many tyrants
have temporarily stopped that flow. None has ever stopped
it permanently. And the medieval tyranny that is masquerading
as modern Marxism will not escape from the inexorable tide
of history. It is our job to help the tide of history. We
must not be found wanting or no one knows what the consequences
will be.
=
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
August 29, 1983
MEMORANDUM TO: ANNE HIGGINS
7610
FROM:
Morton C. Blckwel M
SUBJECT:
Letters of Appreciation from the President
Attached is a listing provided to me by Keith L. Miceli,
Director of Latin American Affairs for the Chamber of Commerce
of the United States, of individuals who contributed sig-
nificantly to the passage of the President's Caribbean Basin
Initiative.
I believe it would be most appropriate if a letter of
appreciation from the President were to be sent to each
individual on the list thanking them for their assistance in
securring passage of this priority legislation.
MCB:jet
1 Attachment a/s
Ltrs. That out 9/12/83 you Chuch in Anne Heggins
office
Mr. Joseph F. Alibrandi
Mr. Richard A. Debs
Chairman, President and Chief
President
Executive Officer
Morgan Stanley International Inc.
Whittaker Corporation
1251 Avenue of the Americas
10880 Wilshire Boulevard
New York, NY 10020
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Mr. Hugh P. Donaghue
Mr. Robert M. Bischoff
Vice President, Industry
President
Relations
Latin America/West Africa
Control Data Corporation
Texaco, Inc.
Suite 370
2121 Ponce de Leon Blvd.
1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Coral Gables, FL 33134
Washington, D.C. 20004
Mr. Joseph H. Blatchford
Mr. Jay C. Fernandes
Blatchford, Epstein & Brady
President
1000 Potomac Street, N.W.
Costa Rican-American Chamber of
Washington, D.C. 20007
Commerce
Calle 3, Avenidas 1 y 3
Mr. Frank Borman
Apartado 4946
Chairman, President and Chief
San Jose, 1000 COSTA RICA
Executive Officer
Eastern Airlines
Mr. Rafael S. Garcia
Miami International Airport
President
Miami, FL 33148
Honduran-American Chamber of
Commerce
Mr. Frank E. Briber, Jr.
Hotel Honduras Maya
Vice President
Apartado Postal 1838
Allis-Chalmers
Tegucigalpa, HONDURAS
1126 South 70th Street
West Allis, WI 53214
Mr. Bernard J. Hargadon, Jr.
President
Mr. Charles Burroughs
Foremost McKesson International
Washington Representative
One Post Street
Castle and Cook
San Francisco, CA 94104
2519 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
Mr. Patrick N. Hughson
Vice President, Association of American
Mr. Alan Caldwell
Chambers of Commerce in Latin America
Manager, Federal Public Affairs
General Manager
Del Monte
Alcoa Exploration Company
2550 M Street, N.W.
Av. Independencia No. 84
Suite 770
Apartado 1323
Washington, D.C. 20037
Santo Domingo, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Mr. R. Bruce Cuthbertson
Mr. Richard Johnson
Vice President, Association of American
Vice President, Association of American
Chambers of Commerce in Latin America
Chambers of Commerce in Latin America
Secretary-Treasurer
Vice President
Interamerican Builders' Associates
United Fruit Company
1451 S. Miami Avenue
Apartado 3657
Miami, FL 33131
San Jose, COSTA RICA
Mr. Thomas G. Johnson
Mr. Harlow F. Newton, Jr.
President
Regional Vice President, Association
American Chamber of Commerce
of American Chambers of Commerce
in Guatemala
in Latin America
Etisa Building
General Manager, Aluminio de Centro
Plazuela Espana Z-9, 5-B
America, S.A.
Apartado Postal 832
Blvd. del Ejercito Nacional, Km. 7 1/2
Guatemala City, GUATEMALA
Apartado Postal 404
San Salvador, EL SALVADOR
Mr. S. Lee Kling
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Charles W. Parry
Landmark Bancshares
President
10 S. Brentwood Blvd.
Aluminum Company of America
St. Louis, MO 63105
1501 Alcoa Building
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Mr. Harry Lamar
IBERC
Mr. Alexander Perry, Jr.
1819 H Street, N.W.
Vice President, Association of American
Suite 340
Chambers of Commerce in Latin America
Washington, D.C. 20006
President of the Board and
General Manager
Dr. Richard L. Lesher
Pachon S.A. Minera
President
Viamonte 1133, 6th floor
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
1052 Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
1615 H Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20062
Mr. John R. Petty
President and Chairman of the
Mr. Russell Marks
Executive Committee
President
Marine Midland Bank, Inc.
Council of the Americas
140 Broadway
684 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10015
New York, NY 10021
Mr. John T. Plunket
Mr. Keith L. Miceli
President, Association of American
Director, Latin American Affairs
Chambers of Commerce in Latin America
Executive Vice President,
Director
Assocition of American Chambers
Transmisiones y Equipos Mecanicos,
of Commerce in Latin America
S.A. de C.V.
1615 H Street, N.W.
Varsovia 44, 3rd floor
Washington, D.C. 20062
06600 Mexico, D.F. Mexico
Mr. Seymour Milstein
Mr. Anthony G. de la Reza
Chairman
President
United Brands Company
American Chamber of Commerce &
1271 Avenue of the Americas
Industry of Panama
New York, NY 10020
Apartado 168
Estafeta Balboa
Mr. R.D. Mitchell
Panama, REPUBLIC OF PANAMA
Vice President
Mr. David Rockefeller
Daniel Construction Company
30 Rockefeller Plaza
250 Park Avenue
Room 5600
New York, NY 10017
New York, NY 10112
Mr. David Rockefeller
Mr. Alexander McW. Wolfe, Jr.
30 Rockefeller Plaza
President
Room 5600
Southeast Bank, N.A.
New York, Ny 10112
100 S. Biscayne Blvd.
Miami, FL 33131
Dr. Michael A. Samuels
Vice President, International
Mr. Robert Corrigan
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Washington Representative
1615 H Street, N.W.
United Brands Company
Washington, D.C. 20062
Suite #200
1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Mr. Marcelino San Miguel II
Washington, D.C. 20006
Regional Vice President, Association of
American Chambers of Commerce in Latin
Mr. Alfred Cumming,
America
Director, Legislative Affairs
Manager, La Antillana Comercial, S.A.
Council of the Americas
Av. Maximo Gomez, #67
1000 16th Street, N.W.
Santo Domingo, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Suite #600
Washington, D.C. 20036
Mr. Sam F. Segnar
President and Chief Executive
Mr. Peter Johnson
Officer
Executive Director
InterNorth, Inc.
Caribbean/Central American Action
2223 Dodge Street
Suite #1010
Omaha, NE 68102
1333 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
Mr. Frederick Stokeld
Director, International Economic
Policy Section
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
1615 H Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20062
Mr. Robert H. Tippenhauer
President
Haitian-American Chamber of
Commerce and Industry
Scotiabank Building
82, Rue de Delmas
P.O. Box 13486 - Delmas
Port-au-Prince, HAITI
Dr. Robert V. West, Jr.
Chairman of the Board
Tesoro Petroleum Corporation
8700 Tesoro Drive
San Antonio, TX 78286
Mr. Margaret S. Wilson
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Scarbroughs Stores
P.O. Box 5879
Austin, TX 78763
ADVANCING VOLUNTARY LEADERSHIP IN A CHANGING WORLD
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
UNITED THE THE 10 STATES
Chamber of Commerce of the United States
1615 H STREET, N.W.
INTERNATIONAL DIVISION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20062
(202) 463-5460
Telex: RCA 248302 (Int'l)
TWX 710 822 9382 (Domestic)
Cable: COCUSA
August 19, 1983
Ms. Joyce Thomann
Executive Assistant to Morton C. Blackwell
White House Office for Public Liaison
Room 191
Old Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20506
Dear Joyce:
I am please that you find merit in the suggestion for having the
President send letters of appreciation to business leaders who, since March
1982, lobbied Congress urging passage of the CBI. Signing the CBI into law
was a great foreign policy victory for the Administration.
The CBI was soundly conceived and is urgently needed to encourage the
private sector to be the engine of economic growth. With the CBI now law,
the business community is prepared to help this important region help
itself, and thus foster U.S. national interests--economic, political and
security.
Attached is a list of individuals from the business community who
were instrumental in securing Congressional approval of the CBI. The list
was compiled from names provided by the Association of American Chambers of
Commerce in Latin America, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Caribbean/Central
American Action, and the Council of the Americas.
I appreciate your interest and support in seeing this suggestion
realized.
Sincerely,
Keith
Keith L. Miceli
Director, Latin American Affairs
Executive Vice President
Association of American Chambers
of Commerce in Latin America
ADVANCING VOLUNTARY LEADERSHIP IN A CHANGING WORLD
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
10.
THE
STATES
UNITED
Chamber of Commerce of the United States
1615 H STREET, N.W.
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20062
INTERNATIONAL DIVISION
(202) 463-5460
Telex: RCA 248302 (Int'l)
TWX 710 822 9382 (Domestic)
Cable: COCUSA
August 22, 1983
TO:
Joyce Thomann
FROM: Keith L. Miceli
RE:
Thank You Letters for CBI Support
Due to oversight, the following names were omitted from the list of
names of business leaders who should receive letters of appreciation from
the President for their support for passage of the CBI:
Mr. Robert Corrigan
Washington Representative
United Brands Company
Suite 200
1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
Mr. Alfred Cumming
Director, Legislative Affairs
Council of the Americas
1000 16th Street, N.W.
Suite 600
Washington, D.C. 20036
Mr. Peter Johnson
Executive Director
Caribbean/Central American Action
Suite 1010
1333 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036.
Please add these names to the previous list.