214. Memorandum of conversation, May 5, between Perez Guerrero and Bowles and other U.S. and Venezuelan officials1
SUBJECT
- Venezuelan Financial Mission’s Call on The Under Secretary
PARTICIPANTS
- Dr. Manuel PEREZ GUERRERO, Director, Office of Coordination and Planning, Venezuela
- Dr. Jose Antonio MAYOBRE, Ambassador of Venezuela
- Dr. Ivan SENIOR, Director, Office of Public Credit, Ministry of Finance of Venezuela
- Mr. Alejandro OPOPEZA Castillo, Governor, Federal District of Caracas
- Mr. Oscar NIEMTSCHIK, Economic Counselor, Embassy of Venezuela
- Dr. Carlos SOSA Rodriguez, Venezuelan Ambassador to the Un N.
- The Under Secretary
- Teodoro Moscoso, U.S. Ambassador-Designate to Venezuela
- John J. Ingersoll, Officer in Charge of Venezuelan Affairs
The Venezuelan Special Financial Mission, headed by Dr. Perez Guerrero, called on the Under Secretary, by appointment, at 4:15 p.m. on May 5, 1961. The Under Secretary received the group in the diplomatic waiting-room adjoining the Secretary’s suite.
The Under Secretary expressed his pleasure in receiving the Mission and inquired about their activities and objectives.
Dr. Perez Guerrero explained that his purpose was to meet with officials of the United States Government concerned with financial matters and with officials of the several United States and international lending institutions from which his Government hoped to obtain assistance in carrying out its four-year economic development program and in achieving budgetary balance and restoring confidence [Facsimile Page 2] in the investment and financial stability of Venezuela. He outlined briefly the sense of his group’s meetings with Department officers and his immediately preceding meetings with Secretary of Treasury and with Mr. George McGovern, of the President’s Food for Peace Program. He said that his mission would meet with officers of the Export-Import Bank immediately after this call and that one of the items with which he was most concerned was a request to the Eximbank for a further $50 million credit on terms similar to those of a credit for a like amount which is in the final stages of negotiation. He expressed his hope that his Government could count on the support of the Under Secretary and the Department of State for this credit which is much needed as a part of the Government’s over-all development program.
The Under Secretary expressed the desire of the United States Government to help effectively to improve living standards and economic and social conditions in under-developed countries and noted that these efforts must be accompanied by serious efforts on the part of the peoples of the less developed countries themselves. He said that we and countries receiving assistance from us have made mistakes in the past and that he hoped we all have learned from our mistakes.
Ambassador Mayobre asked the Under Secretary if it might not be possible for the Department of State to issue a statement to the press regarding the Perez-Guerrero mission and the serious desire of the United States to help the Venezuelan Government succeed with its economic development and stabilization programs. He said that the IBRD and the IDB were planning to issue releases and that such a statement by the U.S. Government would be most helpful psychologically in Venezuela.
[Typeset Page 513]The Under Secretary said the Department would be glad to issue an appropriate statement. He instructed Ambassador Moscoso and Mr. Ingersoll to check with Mr. Rogers in his office on the preparation of such a statement.
Dr. Perez Guerrero thanked the Under Secretary for his kindness in receiving the group and expressed his pleasure with the warm and constructive reception his mission had been receiving from all of their contacts in the United States Government.
- Request by the Special Financial Mission from Venezuela for U.S. assistance with its economic development program. Official Use Only. 2 pp. DOS, Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 65 D 331.↩