Office of the Historian

179. Memorandum of Conversation0

Washington, March 17, 1961.

SUBJECT

  • New York Daily News Editorial on Cuban Signature of Agreement with the United Nations Special Fund

PARTICIPANTS

  • Mr. Tim Smith, Office of Congressman Abner W. Sibal of Connecticut
  • Mr. John N. Plakias, OES, Department of State

Mr. Tim Smith was referred to this office by the Cuban Desk Officer.

Mr. Smith stated that Congressman Sibal had received a letter from a worried constituent quoting a New York Daily News editorial concerning the signature by the United Nations Special Fund of an agreement with Cuba.

Mr. Smith read excerpts of the editorial from the letter (copy of the editorial has been procured and is attached).1 I replied that while I had [Page 398] not seen the New York Daily News editorial, it appeared to include similar information to that contained in the news item which appeared in the New York Times of March 12th.2 In fact, both might have stemmed from a UN Press Release (SPF/115) of March 10, 1961 announcing the signature of a basic agreement by Cuba and the Special Fund.3

I read to Mr. Smith the UN Press Release and stated that it specifically pointed out that no project for Cuba has been approved by the Governing Council of the Special Fund. In this connection I explained that the agreement which had been signed is what is known as a basic agreement which sets forth the conditions which would apply should the Governing Council approve projects for a given signatory country. It did not refer to a specific project but was a prerequisite for assistance through the Special Fund and the framework within which projects subsequently approved by the Governing Council would operate.

Mr. Smith commented that it is to be assumed that Cuba would not have signed the agreement unless it intended to seek Special Fund assist-ance. I agreed that this was a logical interpretation. However, the Special Fund receives many requests and all are not recommended for approval, because certain ones do not qualify or for other reasons. Mr. Smith asked if the U.S. could withhold its approval and funds in the event the Special Fund submitted and recommended a Cuban project for approval by the Governing Council. I replied that the U.S. was only one of 18 members sitting on the Governing Council. Mr. Smith stated that he assumed that there was no veto provision in the Special Fund. I replied that this was my understanding.

I then explained in some detail the processing procedures to which requests for Special Fund assistance were subjected before they might be finally recommended to the Governing Council. (This explanation was similar to that given Mr. Socas—please see memorandum of conversation of March 16.)4 I explained that we had no knowledge of the requests made of the Special Fund by Governments. We would normally have knowledge only of those projects which the Managing Director recommended to the Governing Council in advance of the meetings of the Council which were generally held in May and December.

In commenting on the number of requests which the Special Fund has received and the number of projects which had been approved, I quoted from the “Programme recommended by the Managing Director” to the December meeting of the Governing Council (Doc. SF/R.2 of November 4, 1960), which indicates that up to September 30, 1960, the Special Fund had received 254 requests. The number of projects [Page 399] approved as of December 31, 1960 totaled 115, to which the Special Fund had made allocations of $95,894,000.

In answer to Mr. Smith’s question on the Special Fund budget referred to in the news report, I replied by explaining that the Special Fund is financed by voluntary contributions as is the case with the UN Expanded Program of Technical Assistance. I described the pledging procedure to him and confirmed that the amount given in the press item was the same amount ($46.9 million) so far voluntarily pledged by governments to the Special Fund for the year 1961. I also described the U.S. 40% formula in matching contributions up to $100,000,000 for the Special Fund and the UN Technical Assistance Program combined.

Mr. Smith seemed pleased to have the information which had been given him and requested that I send to him a copy of the UN Press Release only. He felt that with the background given him and the Press Release he would have sufficient information to explain the situation to the Congressman.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 398.051/3-1761. Official Use Only. Drafted by Plakias.↩
  2. Not printed.↩
  3. A typed copy of the article is attached to the source text but not printed.↩
  4. A copy of the press release is attached to the source text but not printed.↩
  5. Not printed. (Department of State, Central Files, 398.051/3-1661)↩