Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXXII, Dominican Republic; Cuba; Haiti; Guyana

170. Paper Prepared by the Under Secretary of State (Mann)¹

Washington, April 26, 1966.

1. Assistant Secretary Gordon should orally inform his staff not to make any statements which would be helpful to Bosch. The best thing for State Department officers to do between now and the June 1 elections is to clam up. If it is necessary for the Department to comment, we should say in essence that we support the efforts of the OAS to bring about free elections and do not wish to speculate on the results. We are also being asked whether this means that we would support whoever is elected. Our response should be that our assistance to Latin American countries is based on the Charter of Punta del Este, especially the self-help provisions of that Charter. Any assistance to the Dominican Republic would be governed by the same criteria.

2. [11 lines of source text not declassified]

3. The flow of funds to Balaguer should be kept under close review by Mr. Gordon and Mr. FitzGerald and such additional sums supplied as may be necessary.

4. [2½ lines of source text not declassified]

5. Election procedures in the Dominican Republic should be constantly and carefully reviewed to make certain that rural voters will have a chance to get to the polls and vote and that there are adequate safeguards at the polls to avoid manipulations adverse to Balaguerʼs interests.

6. [8 lines of source text not declassified]

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Intelligence File, Dominican Republic Elections—1966. Top Secret. An attached covering note from Bromley Smith indicates this paper was from Mann and that Smith put it in the Presidentʼs file.