Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, American Republics; Cuba 1961–1962; Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath, Volumes X/XI/XII, Microfiche Supplement

108. Memorandum of conversation, July 17, between Rusk and Ambassador Ponce¹

July 17, 1963

SUBJECT

• Informal Call on Secretary by Ecuadorean Ambassador

PARTICIPANTS

• The Secretary
• Edwin M. Martin, Assistant Secretary ARA
• Ambassador Ponce, Ecuador

The Secretary opened the conversation by mentioning that this would have to be considered an informal discussion between old friends in view of the fact that we had not established diplomatic relations with the new regime. Ponce said he understood and agreed fully.

The Secretary expressed the hope that the new regime would announce its plans for restoring constitutional government soon and expressed the hope that this would include a reference to elections, perhaps in June 1964 when they were originally to have been held. The Ambassador said he thought it might be possible to hold elections at that time, but he rather thought that what needed doing before the holding of elections would take long enough that elections at that time would only be those to the constituent assembly and that one would have to expect the Assembly to spend 4 to 5 months drawing up the constitution and electing the first president to serve under it. He pointed out this dual role for the constituent assembly had a considerable amount of precedent in Ecuadoran history.

The Secretary also stressed the great importance, to the future of Ecuador and to its external relations, of the junta respecting civil liberties, the rights of assembly and the free press and the freedom of all political parties to campaign preceding any election. The Ambassador said he agreed fully and felt sure that this was the approach which the junta would follow. He indicated that he would not have accepted a position in the junta if he had believed it was going to be a dictatorial regime and did not intend to restore civil liberties and a constitutional democratic government. He pointed out that there were to be six civilians out of the seven member cabinet and that those who had been selected so far were all known to him as able and responsible people. The Secretary welcomed this report and commented that he thought that in the current world one had to distinguish between authoritarian regimes and regimes in which there was a monopoly control at the top for a limited period pending a restoration of democratic government.

The Secretary mentioned the usefulness of Ecuador making available to the pertinent OAS bodies the information they had recently secured in connection with the arrests of leftists returning from training in Cuba. He thought it important that the Hemisphere know what the Cubans were doing in this regard and see evidence of the possibility of frustrating their aims. The Ambassador said that he was sure the new regime was strongly anticommunist in character and determined to prevent communist subversion and would be happy to cooperate in this.

The Secretary referred to the problem of new members in the OAS and hoped the Ambassador could take a look at the Ecuadoran position on this issue. The Ambassador said it was a question with which he had been familiar for several years and he hoped to be able to get out new instructions before the end of this week.

The Secretary referred to the recent differences between the United States and Ecuador on the fishing question, and said he thought it of great importance to work out arrangements which would keep the temperature down in both Ecuador and the United States and permit maintenance of our traditionally friendly relations. The Secretary pointed out the concessions which we have made with respect to the 12 mile limit and the importance of working something out from the Ecuadoran side on the questions of base lines and licenses.

Having pointed out that these matters could only be discussed when relations had taken place, the Secretary said he could not predict when this would happen but hoped conditions would be established which would permit it in the not too distant future. He said there was a great deal to be done in Ecuador, and he was happy to see the junta indicating that they wished to tackle some of the problems there. We were anxious to be able to cooperate with them in dealing with these issues in the framework of the Alliance for Progress.

The Secretary inquired whether the Ambassador had made any plans to attend the UN General Assembly for the first couple of weeks. The Ambassador indicated he had not thought about it, but, if it were desirable, he would try to get there. The Secretary said it was an occasion when a great many Foreign Ministers came to New York and he thought there were advantages in the club of people holding this [illegible in the original] getting together for exchanges from time to time, as had been done in recent years at the opening of the General Assembly.

1. Informal discussion of new regime and future of Ecuador. Confidential. 3 pp. Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Ecuador, July to November 1963.