173. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, March 30, 19591
SUBJECT
- 1) Military Equipment
- 2) Public Law 480
PARTICIPANTS
- Argentine Ambassador Barros Hurtado
- Assistant Secretary Rubottom
- Clarence A. Boonstra, Director, EST
- James F. O’Connor, Jr., EST/A
Ambassador Barros monopolized the conversation. He first expressed concern over the situation which had developed in connection with the desire of the three Argentine armed services to obtain military equipment and services at reduced prices and on special credit terms. He referred to the fact that he had been told by former EST Director Bernbaum just prior to his (Barros’) departure from Washington at the beginning of March that the meeting of Argentine military desires in these regards had been approved in principle, and that he had so reported during consultation discussions in Buenos Aires. He had at the time of his departure, he continued, known the details of the assistance requested by the Argentine Navy and the Argentine Air Force, but had been in ignorance of the proposal made by the Argentine Army, since this had been handled by special emissaries. The approval in principle had not been stated to him in terms of any specific financial limitation, and he had conveyed this approval in Buenos Aires in general terms. He was now distressed to learn that there was apparently an overall ceiling of approximately $10 million on U.S. assistance for all three Argentine services, since the assumptions of the three arms totalled twice this figure. According to his information, the Argentine Army expected assistance in the neighborhood of $10 million and the Argentine Air Force was thinking in terms of about $9 million, while the Argentine Navy’s interest in basic rehabilitation of two submarines involved the comparatively modest sum of $1.2 million.
Ambassador Barros commented that the Navy situation was uncomplicated and appeared to present no real problems. There was agreement with this. The Ambassador then went on to discuss the cases of the two other services.
[Page 546]He reiterated that he had been by-passed in the case of the Argentine Army approach for assistance made here during the Frondizi visit by the Vice Chief of the Army General Staff, Colonel Rosas, and the head of the North and Central American section of the Foreign Office, Ambassador Gallac. He said that he had raised with Frondizi the question of the mission of these two emissaries, that Frondizi had offered to send them back to Buenos Aires if he found their presence inconvenient, but that he had not insisted on this. (Note: On an earlier occasion Barros stated to a Department officer that Frondizi had told him that Rosas and Gallac had been added to the group traveling to Washington with him after they had persuaded him at virtually the last minute to authorize their special mission.) Barros said that the former Argentine Army Attaché here, General Bonnecarrere, had likewise been by-passed, but that his successor, Colonel Uriburu, recently arrived in Washington with a detailed list of equipment which the Argentine Army hoped to obtain which in itself approached $10 million.
Mr. Rubottom indicated appreciation of the problem created by the independent Argentine Army approach, but went on to say that the Department had no real choice but to receive the confidential emissaries following President Frondizi’s appeal for assistance for the Argentine Army in his conversations with the Secretary and President Eisenhower, Ambassador Barros replied that he had been present and that Frondizi had couched his approach for military assistance in terms of the Argentine armed forces as a whole, and not specifically of the Army. There was some inconclusive discussion of this point.
In turning to the case of the Air Force, Ambassador Barros emphasized that its need for assistance was critical. He referred to the fact that Air Force needs and desires had been the subject of formal approaches to the Department in diplomatic notes. He said that the basic Air Force request has been for 28 F–86 planes with spare parts sufficient for five years, and that he could not but interpret the approval in principal to satisfy Air Force aspirations as based on this five-year requirement, which could not be met within the overall ceiling now revealed for the three services. The nature of the letter of offer in the amount of approximately $4.4 million made to the Argentine Air Attaché by the Department of Defense on January 15 was discussed. The Ambassador maintained that this included spare parts for one year only, but that the U.S. commitment for assistance must be taken to cover the provision of spare parts for five years, since that was what had been requested and what the Argentine Air Force found necessary.
The Ambassador came back again to the fact he had reported U.S. approval in principle of Argentine military assistance desires in Buenos Aires without knowledge of any financial ceiling for all three [Page 547] services and without knowledge of the specific Argentine Army proposal. He referred to the unfavorable effect which knowledge of U.S. retreat from what he considered to be our commitment could have within Argentine military circles.
Mr. Rubottom stated that we had been doing our very best to satisfy the Argentine request for quite special consideration in the military field, that we had given priority and concentrated attention to this subject, and indicated that we might have gounds on our part for dissatisfaction if these efforts were now thus received. He pointed out to the Ambassador that there was need for overall Argentine Government consideration of the problem if available U.S. funds would not satisfy the needs of all three Argentine services. He asked the Ambassador if he could not discuss this situation jointly with his three service attachés. The Ambassador replied that the service attachés would not be amenable to any such joint discussion of their individual needs.
There was agreement that the factual background of this matter had to be checked as a prerequisite to any further consideration, and Mr. O’Connor undertook to do this.
Ambassador Barros then turned to the matter of the exploratory approach being made to the Department of Agriculture by an official of the Argentine Secretariat (Ministry) of Agriculture, Ing. Roberto Risso Patron, to obtain surplus agricultural commodities under Public Law 480. He repeated what he had told Mr. Rubottom over the telephone the previous day: that he had received a long-distance telephone call from President Frondizi on March 27 in which Frondizi had expressed disappointment with the limited degree of acceptance accorded Risso Patron’s presentation in the face of the importance of this matter to the Argentine Government in meeting the problems posed by its stabilization program. Mr. Rubottom said that was an unexpected development, since our Embassy in Buenos Aires had been careful to point out to Argentine officials that no assurances whatsoever could be given as to the outcome of Risso Patron’s trip. He added that he himself had been pessimistic as to what might be accomplished by the mission and as to the advisability of its being undertaken in this fashion, since there were legislative limitations on operation of the Public Law 480 program. There was discussion of the present status of Risso Patron’s talks and the prospects for PL 480 acquisitions by Argentina. It was pointed out that there was a distinct obstacle in the form of the price differential in the case of wheat and corn, but that there was a possibility of working something out in the case of edible oils, rice, and forage seeds. Mr. Boonstra pointed out that one complication was that Risso Patron’s presentation had been a quite abstract one and that the Department of Agriculture needed concrete figures and propositions to enable it to give consideration to Argentine desires.
[Page 548]Ambassador Barros said that he would like to bring Risso Patron in to explain his ideas to Mr. Rubottom later in the week. Mr. O’Connor said that we had a copy of the written presentation which Risso Patron had brought with him. The Ambassador indicated that this was not to be taken as a definitive document and that there was more to be said.
In leaving, the Ambassador said that Frondizi had indicated annoyance to him over the expression of surprise by U.S. officials to Risso Patron that Argentina should have undertaken to lend 100,000 tons of wheat to Uruguay concurrently with its approach for PL 480 assistance. Barros reported Frondizi as having said that this was a necessary political gesture to Uruguay which should not affect its approach to the U.S.
In accompanying the Ambassador out of the Department, Mr. Boonstra emphasized to him importance of Risso Patron’s having concrete information and proposals to present in future discussions. As he left the building Barros commented once again to Mr. O’Connor that he had been embarrassed by carrying to Buenos Aires the U.S. agreement in principle to assist Argentina in obtaining military equipment without knowledge of the overall financial limitation involved.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 735.56/3–3059. Confidential. Drafted by O’Connor.↩