357. Telegram From the Embassy in Venezuela to the Department of State and the White House1

2843. Subject: Memorandum of Conversation, Miraflores Palace, Caracas March 23, 1979 3:35 PM to 6:20 PM

1. (Confidential—Entire Text)

2. The following memorandum has not been cleared either by the Vice President or by Assistant Secretary Vaky.

3. Participants:

Venezuelan:

President Luis Herrera

Foreign Minister Jose Alberto Zambrano Velazco

Senator Aristides Calvani

Interior Minister Rafael Andres Montes de Oca

Defense Minister General Paredes Bello

Minister of State for Culture Guillermo Yepez Boscan

Ambassador German Nava Carrillo, Director General of the Foreign Ministry

Ambassador Marcial Perez Chiriboga, Civil Aide to the Vice President

Minister of the Secretariat of the Presidency Gonzalo Garcia Bustillos

Dr. Sosa Rodriguez, Former Ambassador to the U.S.

Jose Ignacio Moreno Leon, Acting Minister of Energy and Mines

Minister of Finance Luis Ugueto

Minister of Information and Tourism Jose Luis Zapata

Minister of Development Manuel Quijada

Minister of State for Science and Technology Raimundo Villegas

Acting Director of the Venezuelan Investment Fund Roberto Guarnieri

U.S.:

Vice President Walter F. Mondale

Ambassador William H. Luers

Ambassador Viron P. Vaky

Denis Clift

James Johnson

Robert Pastor

[Page 1034]

John J. Crowley, Jr.

Myles Frechette

Robert Knickmeyer

4. President Herrera began by expressing pleasure at having Vice President Mondale in Venezuela. He said there would be no rigid agenda but that he would like to discuss various matters of mutual interest, without being able to go into greater detail because his administration had been [in] office less than two weeks. He then presented the other members of his team.

5. Vice President Mondale introduced the U.S. side and told President Herrera that he brought with him a letter from President Carter2 inviting President Herrera to the United States either in late 1979 or early 1980, the date to be fixed in accordance with both Presidents’ commitments.

6. President Herrera accepted the letter, thanking Vice President Mondale for the invitation, and said that he wanted to do whatever he could to improve relations and bring Venezuela and the U.S. closer together. He said he believed a visit could do this and he accepted President Carter’s invitation in principle. He said the date would have [to] be fixed later. He expressed gratitude for President Carter’s gesture of friendship.

7. Vice President Mondale said that President Herrera’s acceptance was good news and stated that he was sure that President Herrera would like President and vice versa. He said the timing of the visit could be worked out through diplomatic channels.

8. President Herrera said he wanted to start by expressing his respect for the United States, especially because now Venezuela and the U.S. share ethical values which are fundamental to humanity and particularly the countries of Latin America. These values are, he said, the defense of human rights and of democratic systems within a framework of liberty, dignity and social justice. President Herrera said that, for Venezuela, from the economic point of view, the U.S. is its major petroleum market and the source of almost 50 percent of Venezuela’s day to day needs. For the U.S., Venezuela is a secure source of petroleum of growing strategic importance especially at a time when there is conflict in those countries which are the major petroleum producers. Venezuela is also a good market for U.S. manufacturers and agricultural products and is also extremely receptive to an increasing flow of U.S. tourists. President Herrera said we should not just have this economic [Page 1035] optic, however. As democratic countries, both Venezuela and the United States must give an example of sincerity, and the best way to do this is through mutual respect, frankness and bilateral dialogue. He said this dialogue must be not just about petroleum but about global issues and various areas of interest to Venezuela and Latin America as a whole. Also, we must transfer this to multilateral form with the understanding that this cannot be viewed from the national point of view but from the collective Latin American point of view because of the similarity of positions and commonality of interests in Latin America. President Herrera said he wished to reiterate that Venezuela understands perfectly its strategic importance in today’s world. Venezuela is the most secure source of oil for the U.S., Canada and Western Europe. Venezuela belongs to OPEC and has been working not only to defend oil prices but also to achieve a rationalization of the use of energy sources such as petroleum. OPEC is an important experiment for the developing countries and therefore Venezuela must fight for unity and solidarity within OPEC. He said that his administration wishes petroleum to be seen not just as a source of foreign exchange for Venezuela, but as the fount of harmonic development for Venezuela. That is why Venezuela looks to the U.S. for technological development, not just as a source of petroleum technology, but also in the fields of science, agriculture, education, culture and the marketing of manufactures and agro industrial and agricultural products. The focus for the technology transfer must be global, not partial. Petroleum, said President Herrera, is fundamental to the integral development of Venezuela.

9. Vice President Mondale said that he agreed with and endorses most of what President Herrera said with enthusiasm. He said that President Carter shares his view that human rights and liberty should be pursued and that it is most important to have ethical values as well. The Vice President said that, as he had said at the airport,3 “You are one [of] the great democracies in the world. Your peaceful transition shows the force of that democracy.” We have a responsibility to work together, said the Vice President, and use our influence to encourage other societies to grant others these same privileges. If I read you correctly, said the Vice President, you agree. The Vice President said that he couldn’t agree more with President Herrera that U.S.-Venezuelan relations should not be just commercial but based on broader terms. He said that he spoke for President Carter and for the United States in general in expressing gratitude to Venezuela for having increased its production of oil when Iran’s production dropped off. He said Venezuela had agreed to increase its production beyond the level it [Page 1036] considered to be in its own interest at a time of chaos and when the oil market was drifting. He said the U.S. is very grateful for Venezuela’s willingness to respond. He also said President Carter favors the repeal of the amendment which excludes Venezuela from access to the GSP. He said he had spoken to Senator Bentsen before coming to Venezuela. Senator Bentsen, he said is working on legislation which would repeal that amendment. The Vice President said he could not give President Herrera a sense of what the probability of the passage of that legislation would be, but he could assure President Herrera that Venezuela had the Carter Administration’s support. With respect to oil prices, the Vice President said that the U.S. Government believes that the present spot market of $18 to $20 a barrel is too high and should not be the basis for upward adjustment of posted OPEC oil prices. He said the U.S. believes that these prices are too high for the U.S. economy and will cause inflation, hurting not only the U.S. economy but also causing more inflation in oil producing countries. Regarding technology transfer. The Vice President said he agreed that the basis for such a transfer should not focus only around oil. He said that the administration is prepared to assemble a team of scientists and specialists under Dr. Frank Press, the President’s Science Advisor, to examine areas of interest both to Venezuela and the U.S. He pointed out that Venezuela had scientists with knowledge of interest to the U.S. He said that such technology could easily cover areas such as agriculture, energy, science and even marketing if that was Venezuela’s wish. He said that both countries could explore the fields of cooperation through diplomatic channels so that the team could be assembled. He said that he would be less than candid if he did not acknowledge that he hoped some research on oil would be included. He said Dr. Press would be delighted to come to Venezuela whenever the Venezuelan Government asked for him.

10. President Herrera said he wished to express his pleasure that President Carter wanted to repeal the GSP amendment. He said he hoped this would be transformed into legislative reality as soon as possible. He said that he wanted former Ambassador Sosa Rodriguez to speak on this point.

11. Sosa Rodriguez said that eliminating the GSP exclusion could be of great importance for future trade and commerce between the U.S. and Venezuela, not just concerning hydrocarbons and derivatives, but also concerning other products which would be produced as a result of Venezuela’s integral development. He said Venezuela shares to a great extent the U.S. view of the importance of Venezuelan oil as well as the point that oil prices should be rational. He said Venezuela believed there should be rationality in a world economic order, and that there should be a closer relation between the price of products [Page 1037] sold by mono product countries and the prices of the very varied products sold to developing countries. Within this context, said Sosa Rodriguez, Venezuela believes it can develop very close relations with the U.S. Therefore, Venezuela takes this as a good augury that the dialogue which began in 1963 is now branching out into more varied field. It is sure to achieve a greater stability in U.S.-Venezuelan relations.

12. President Herrera said he was happy that Vice President Mondale agreed on the importance of technology exchange in both directions. In that sense, he said he wanted his Minister for State for Science and Technology to state his administration’s position on such exchange.

13. Minister Villegas said Venezuela was grateful for the offer of cooperation in science and technology, especially at a time when Venezuela was preparing to give an extra push to scientific research, not just in existing research centers, but in new ones to be established. Many Venezuelan scientists, he said, have spent part of their lives living and studying in the U.S. and have both professional and personal contacts there that will help in making use of this offer of technical cooperation by nurturing the bilateral nature of such cooperation. The areas of greatest interest to Venezuela now have to do with man and his environment. He said Venezuela needs research in agriculture and livestock and in medical areas. Another field would be engineering, especially chemical, metallurgical and electronic. He said Venezuela has very few researchers in these fields. Obviously, he said, Venezuela is most interested in scientific and technological cooperation on oil. Perhaps the most important field in which the U.S. could help Venezuela would be to help organize scientific research, especially the establishment of foundations or institutions which Venezuela, because of a lack of foresight, had not established. He said Venezuela wants to know as much as possible about the U.S. National Academy of Science and the National Science Foundation. He said these two institutions had been very important for scientific development in the U.S.

14. Vice President Mondale replied that we should give some thought as to how Venezuela would like to begin. He said the U.S. idea was to send Dr. Press and a team of scientists to come down and help out. He repeated that President Carter had authorized him to offer to send Dr. Press. He asked whether this made any sense.

15. President Herrera said that, of course, the offer made sense and that he considered it very positive. He said that only after an exchange of opinion would it be possible to establish a design for cooperation. He then called on Ambassador Perez Chiriboga to speak.

16. Perez Chiriboga said that the Venezuelans were very interested in the idea of having Dr. Press visit. He said that in Washington the [Page 1038] Copei delegation4 had heard Dr. Press say something that impressed them very much. Dr. Press had said that, to date, agricultural technology has been directed toward temperate zones and fertile areas and that relatively little has been done concerning tropical or semi-tropical areas such as the savannahs or plains of Venezuela. Perhaps this would be a good field for cooperation. A different aspect of technology transfer very important to Venezuela and to all countries is that the cost of transferring technology from developed countries to LDC’s is enormous. He said that he was also aware that this was more a problem of private companies and multinationals than a problem concerning the relationship between governments. The fact is, however, he said, that LDC’s pay more for technology than what is paid for that technology in the country where it is developed. According to a number of studies, he said, the increase in the cost of technology is greater than the increase in the cost of raw materials. We have to see how technology can be made available on more reasonable terms.

17. Vice President Mondale replied that he was aware of this and that it had been the subject of considerable debate. The Carter administration is not satisfied with the present state of affairs and is studying the establishment of an institute of technological cooperation. He said that the U.S. is aware that this is a very complicated problem and that President Carter will make this point in an upcoming speech to the Congress.5 One other point, said the Vice President, had been raised when his wife visited Caracas.6 That was the question of residencies for foreign medical students. He said the administration is trying to correct the legislation which has caused the problem. He said that the US Government knows that three years of residency and the examination are often irrelevant. He said the administration believes the U.S. is on the wrong track with that approach and that it should be establishing more international communication and sharing in this field. He said that one thing the framers of this legislation had in mind was that many foreign students come to study medicine in the U.S. and then [Page 1039] don’t want to leave. He realized this is not the case with Venezuelan or Saudi students. He said he had discussed this problem with President Carter and with Reubin Askew, who will be the Chairman of a new Committee on Immigration. Both are concerned about this problem. He said the administration is reasonably confident that it can come up with some solution.

18. President Herrera said he was happy that President Carter had raised this issue which he had mentioned to Mrs. Mondale. Venezuela doctors need good post-graduate training. The concern about this U.S. legislation had been expressed by universities, professionals, medical schools and the Venezuelan Academy of Medicine, and they had raised this issue through him precisely because of their concern. He said it had been raised earlier with Governor Askew in Florida by a Venezuelan delegate visiting there. He reiterated that Venezuela wanted its medical doctors to have the best possibilities for training so they could return to Venezuela to be useful. President Herrera said that the brain drain from LDC’s was extremely alarming but that it was not a Venezuelan problem. He said that unless a solution is found to this problem it will be an irritant to a very important sector of Venezuelan society, i.e., the doctors.

19. Vice President Mondale said he understood. He pointed out that it has been a matter of great concern that doctors come to the U.S. for training from Korea or the Philippines, for example, where they are desperately needed and they, after training they refuse to return. Those governments want the U.S. Government to put pressure on those students and that is very uncomfortable for the U.S. Government. He recognized, he said, that under those circumstances the U.S. could be accused of contributing to the brain drain.

20. President Herrera said he wanted to raise another point which is not strictly a Venezuelan nor exclusively a U.S. problem. He said, however, that he believes that this is an area of cooperation that could be positive within the norms of mutual respect and sovereignty toward other countries. This is the issue of Caribbean development. In the last few years, he said, there has been a process of emancipation of the old British colonies in the Caribbean; soon the Netherlands and French West Indies will follow. The Caribbean area is different from the Anglo-Saxon or the Latin World. It never had intense relations with either of those worlds, and had a series of problems such as cultural and political subordination and economic under development. In less than 10 years, he said, we will have 15 to 16 new republics in the Caribbean which will also be a part of the inter-American system. They are also islands or countries which are very susceptible to outside influences, especially Marxist. Therefore, he said, his administration believes it important to stimulate the development of the Caribbean, not just to achieve levels [Page 1040] of economic development but also to solve social problems and improve the conditions for democracy. Also, he said, we must not forget that, because of the ethnic and religious makeup of the population of the Caribbean, the attitudes of Afro-Asian countries are very important. These new Caribbean countries pose in their policies the need for a new, more ample and comprehensive attitude and for more economic solidarity. President Herrera said that he was going to call on the Acting Director of the Venezuelan Investment Fund to discuss his administration’s attitude toward Caribbean development. He said he knew President Carter had expressed his concern about the Caribbean and that some steps had been taken.

21. Roberto Guarnieri said that Venezuela recognizes the crucial importance of the integral development of the Caribbean in a political, economic and social sense. It is necessary that they have sufficient resources for a more accelerated economic development than they can achieve with their own resources. Since 1974, Venezuela has made significant contributions to the Caribbean area along with the U.S. and other contributors like the IMF, IDB, IBRD and the OPEC Fund. Venezuela has also promoted the Caribbean Development Fund to establish mechanisms for channelling resources to the Caribbean. Venezuela has contributed some $240 million to finance economic development of the Caribbean. Part of this has been bilateral, part has been through funds which Venezuela channels to third world countries through the IDB and the OPEC Fund. He said he wished to emphasize that much of this has been granted on concessional terms. This has been particularly true with respect to loans from the OPEC Fund to five countries in the Caribbean. Through special programs between Venezuela and the Caribbean these have been granted at a concessional rate of interest. The rest of the loans have not been on concessional terms because they are from the Venezuelan Investment Fund and, under the statutes of the Fund its money must be loaned at market rates. It has been Venezuela’s policy to make these loans freely, that is, not to tie them. He said that the practice of developed countries is often to offer concessional terms but to tie the recipient countries to specific usages such as special programs or specifying the countries where goods have to be purchased. He said Venezuela believes that in net terms, despite the fact that the Venezuelan Investment Fund loans cannot be made at concessional interest rates, since these are untied loans, they can be considered more concessional than grants which because they are tied, are less useful. He said that the Herrera Administration believes that Venezuela is a developing country, that it has economic and social needs and that these conditions do not allow Venezuela to grant concessional aid. Instead, he said, we must strive to create permanent wealth and recycle resources to maintain active [Page 1041] economic systems. There must be a net transfer of resources from countries that have most of the world’s resources. Venezuela has a program and has taken initiatives which take into consideration its limited resources and the fact that these resources must maintain their purchasing power.

22. The Vice President said Ambassador Vaky would reply. Ambassador Vaky said that we agreed on the need for cooperative effort in the Caribbean, an area that presents very bothersome economic and political problem. He called attention to the meeting of Caribbean donors in March and later, in Paris in May to prepare for a Caribbean group meeting in June.7 He said he hoped that Venezuela would join the U.S. in convincing West Germany and Japan to be more helpful. He said the U.S. believed that in the Paris meeting in June it will be possible to deal with future programs. He said the U.S. also wants to stress regional programs rather than just bilateral. He also said that the U.S. hopes Caribbean countries will meet with the donor countries and study the range of uses of the resources that are available.

23. Vice President Mondale asked President Herrera for his views on Grenada.8 He asked how we should react and whether President Herrera saw Grenada as an isolated case or one having broader implications.

24. President Herrera said it was very difficult to give an opinion on the coup. He said Venezuela knew about unrest caused by the former government’s administration of resources. There were also comments of growing opposition, but the coup caught Venezuela as well as the US by surprise. It even caught the former President of Grenada, who esp failed in this instance, by surprise. Venezuela had information from more normal channels. Ambassador Nava Carrillo has talked to the leaders of the new government and would share this information.

25. Ambassador Nava Carrillo said that Venezuela has analyzed carefully the reaction of the independent and non-independent states of the Caribbean. There were two trends which were visible. The first was fear, not of change but of the non-traditional form it had taken. The islands of the southern Caribbean were very cautious but three have recognized the new government of Grenada. There was also another trend among the non-independent states. This trend was to be fearful and to try to establish some sort of mechanism to react to [Page 1042] the change. The views of Mr. Bishop, the new leader in Grenada, are crucial. Bishop struck Nava Carrillo as a socialist, a man of the center left who is serious about trying to help his country. He said Venezuela had reached no final conclusion. The repercussions are all important and require cautious, continued study.

26. Vice President Mondale said it would be good if Venezuela and the U.S. kept in contact on Grenada and that President Carter was concerned.

27. The Vice President then said he wanted to raise the question of the United Nations Security Council. He said Bolivia was giving up its seat this year and that the question had arisen as to who, among the Latin American countries, will replace Bolivia. The U.S., he said, has traditionally supported the choice of the Latin Americans. Now, Cuba has a chance to occupy the seat and the U.S. wants to avoid this. He said the U.S. believes Cuba is irresponsible internationally. It is hard to find a country in Africa where Cuba is not involved. In the north-south Yemen situation, which is most sensitive, the Russians are supplying equipment and there are some 300 Russian, and 300 Cuban advisors as well as some Ethiopians. There are also 17,000 Cubans in Ethiopia. Cuba has become a major actor in a new strategy to provide Russia with a surrogate force. The U.S. does not believe that Cuba should be given the dignity of representing Latin America. The Vice President pointed out the U.S. had made efforts to improve relations with Cuba and the interest section in Havana was one result. The Vice President asked if Peru could be encouraged to seek the seat. He said that if Cuba got the second Latin American seat, then Latin America would be represented by Cuba and Jamaica which are not very representative of Latin America.

28. President Herrera replied saying that, in all sincerity, the Venezuelan Government has not yet addressed this question. His Administration had been in power for only ten days and that it had no evidence that the previous administration had done anything on this Security Council problem. He said this was an interesting point and that he agreed with the idea that Latin America should have the most authentic representation possible on the security council. Vice President Mondale asked President Herrera to give this some consideration, the U.S. thinking it is important, he said.

29. President Herrera said he wanted to raise another point with respect to cooperation in narcotics control. The use of narcotics, he said, is causing anguish in Venezuela because it affects the young and it seems Venezuela is now a conduit for narcotics on its way to the U.S. He said the Minister of Defense would address the problem.

30. General Paredes Bello said that the presence of narcotics in Venezuela was increasing. He said that Venezuela and Colombia, espe[Page 1043]cially their armed forces and security forces, had been taking action. Last year, for example, Venezuela had been very active. In fact, more so than Colombia; but both countries had discovered marijuana growing along their common border. Paredes Bello said that they also discovered that these marijuana plantations were financed by U.S. economic interests. He said Venezuela had learned that this traffic is going out by air, particularly out of the Guajira Peninsula shared by Venezuela and Colombia. In addition, some narcotics are going by sea. Some of the vessels involved in this contraband have Venezuelan flags and some have Colombian. A few months ago (sic), Ambassador Asencio, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, who is well known in Venezuela, came to Caracas and talked about triparite cooperation (US./Colombia/Venezuela). (Note: This took place on Feb. 16, 1979)9 Venezuela is interested in such cooperation but it has limitations concerning equipment and means. Asencio had asked that Venezuela reinforce its radar in Maracaibo. However, that radar belongs to the Ministry of Transport and Communications and is used only for controlling commercial air traffic. Venezuela has to improve its radar capability. Also the aircraft stationed in Maracaibo are not interceptors. They are reconassiance craft which cannot cope with the new planes used by the traffickers. General Paredes Bello suggested a meeting of experts to see what could be done. In any event, it is important to put pressure on the Guajira area which is now being used for trafficking. It is a very ample area but if enough pressure is applied, the traffickers will find another route. He had discussed this with the Colombian Minister of Defense and the latter had been very receptive. However, Colombia was limited financially and technically. Venezuela is aware that the U.S. is giving economic assistance to Colombia. The U.S., he said, has the will to work on a problem which affects all of us. Venezuela wants to cooperate but needs technical and financial support.

31. The Vice President said he was pleased to hear the presentation on narcotics and that the U.S. places high priority on the control of narcotics. As in Venezuela, the youth of the U.S. are affected. The US has been working for years in Turkey, in the Golden Triangle and in Mexico to combat this deadly stuff which kills youth and corrupts governments. The U.S. would like to send Matea Falco, who coordinates all U.S. anti-narcotics efforts, to review all possibilities with Venezuela and Colombia.10

[Page 1044]

32. President Herrera said he understood that the Vice President had a tough schedule in Brazil11 and Venezuela but wanted to raise one more point. He wanted to return to the beginning, to a point of US policy which has a great impact in Latin America. This is human rights and its defense. Venezuela believes it is not enough to announce it as a slogan but that we must find a way to implement it so that this policy can bear positive fruit. His administration has some concrete ideas, the beginning of a continental policy. He asked Former Foreign Minister Calvani to talk about it.

33. Aristides Calvani said human rights affects the political development of countries. It is a disease of societies and violations of human rights are therefore, pathological. But, like disease, such violations can be prevented. Human rights are also complex. How do you establish equilibrium between non-intervention and the right to intervene when human dignity is endangered by a sick regime? The defense of human rights has to be accompanied by political development in Latin America. This task is more than the effort of one country. It requires coordinated government efforts and cooperation of all democratic parties. Also, the problem is one of the formation (education or training) of leaders. He said that in Nicaragua, which has been under a dictatorship for forty years, leaders have no possibility of political formation and therefore there are no cadres and the whole thing has become a vicious circle. We must ask others to coordinate and join us in this effort. First, we must define which human rights will be emphasized. Second, this must be done without undermining non-intervention. Lastly, we must decide the question of mechanisms. The actions of governments and parties represent two kinds of machinery to be handled differently but which are complementary.

34. Vice President Mondale said he agreed, that it was a sensible proposition and that it was useless to try to promote human rights with empty mouthing. The Carter administration has spent two years trying to figure out how to implement its human rights policy, he said the U.S.G. had some justification for its concern. But, he said, there is a beginning of sanction within international law for actions outside one’s own country on human rights. The United Nations Human Rights Convention and the Helsinki Accords put responsibility for violations on the signatories, where it belongs. Nevertheless, it is a difficult question and part of it without doubt, has to do with political leadership. There is no question that after long periods of authoritarian rule there are no natural leaders left. The Vice President explained that the Embassy is planning a human rights conference to be held in Caracas, [Page 1045] including high level USG participation, and these ideas could be discussed further at that conference.12

35. President Herrera said it had been a very interesting working session and that Venezuela had had only a short time to prepare for it. They had hoped to present the most outstanding themes without suggesting they were the only ones. In any event it had all been positive. Herrera said he viewed the exchange as the continuation of a dialogue. He wanted to stress that since Venezuela and the U.S. have a tradition of cordiality and friendship and now share a concern for human rights and democracy, we must try and be sincere and show that we have political will to reach an agreement on the problems we face together within a framework of mutual respect and frankness. He thanked Vice President Mondale for his time and said he would see him later in more relaxed circumstances.13

Herrera said he wanted to thank President Carter for his kind wishes for his Government and for Venezuela, he wished him the same in return.

36. Vice President Mondale thanked Herrera [and] said the session had been most useful. He was encouraged and heartened and would report on it to President Carter and Secretary of State Vance.14 He told Herrera not to worry about tiring the Vice President because it is the most expendable position in the U.S. Government.

37. Action requested: Please telegram concurrence and any changes.15

Luers
  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D790139-1072. Confidential; Immediate; Exdis. A final version of this memorandum of conversation was not found.
  2. Dated March 20. (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, President’s Correspondence with Foreign Leaders File, Box 21, Venezuela: President Luis Herrera Campins, 3/79-6/80)
  3. Mondale’s arrival statement in Caracas was not found.
  4. The delegation visited Washington February 20–23 and met with Mondale, Brzezinski, Christopher, and others. (Christopher memorandum to Carter, February 22, Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 21, Evening Reports [State], 2/79) No record of the meeting with Press was found.
  5. Presumably a reference to a March 27 message to Congress, entitled “Science and Technology.” A portion of the message discussed proposed legislation to create an Institute for Scientific and Technological Cooperation, “which will be charged with helping developing countries improve their scientific and technological capacity.” (Public Papers: Carter, 1979, p. 540) For text of the entire message see Ibid., pp. 528–546.
  6. Joan Mondale and Marshall led the U.S. delegation to Herrera’s inauguration March 11–13. They met with Herrera on March 13. (Memorandum of Conversation, Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor, Country Files, Box 47, Venezuela, 1-12/79)
  7. The Caribbean Group for Cooperation in Economic Development met on June 8 in Washington. (Telegram 153023 to Bridgetown, June 14, National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D790271-0382) References to the meetings in March and May were not found.
  8. A reference to the March 13 coup in Grenada. See Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, vol. XXIII, Mexico, Cuba, and the Caribbean, Document 313.
  9. No record of this meeting was found.
  10. Falco met with a Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs working group on May 28. (Telegram 4879 from Caracas, May 31, National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D790251-0537)
  11. See Document 181.
  12. The conference took place at the Embassy in Caracas June 28 and 29.
  13. Herrera held a dinner for Mondale that evening. Mondale and Herrera met again the following morning, when they discussed multilateral trade negotiations, the Andean Pact, Camp David, SALT, and oil. (Memorandum of Conversation, March 24; Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Pastor, Country Files, Box 47, Venezuela, 1-12/79)
  14. Not found.
  15. No response was found.