Office of the Historian

189. Memorandum of Conversation1

Washington, February 11, 1967, 10:30 a.m.

PARTICIPANTS

  • Ambassador Hector Garcia Godoy—Dominican Republic
  • Mr. William G. Bowdler—NSC Staff

The Ambassador called at his initiative. He said that he had tried to make an appointment with Assistant Secretary Gordon yesterday, but given Mr. Gordonʼs imminent departure for Buenos Aires, this was not possible.

The Ambassador said that the purpose of his visit was to reiterate what he had said to the President in their interview of January 23,2 1967 concerning his governmentʼs desire to have an assured quota of 600,000 tons of sugar for the next two or three years while the government-owned sugar corporation was completely modernized. He was making this request again because he had recently heard from his governmentʼs sugar brokers in New York that the Philippines would not be able to meet their share of the Puerto Rican deficit.

On the modernization of the sugar industry, the Ambassador reported that his government on February 6 invited bids for a management survey of the industry. The bidding would close on March 6, at which time the government would select a consultant firm to do the survey.

I told him that we were also aware of the information in the hands of the sugar trade. I pointed out I was in no position to give him an answer on his request for additional sugar up to 600,000 tons. He said he recognized this. I said that assuming the Philippines would not be able to meet its share of the Puerto Rican deficit, we would not be dealing with the quota redistribution until late spring and probably not until July. I stressed the importance of moving forward with all speed on the modernization of the industry.

I told Ambassador Garcia Godoy that when I saw Assistant Secretary Gordon in Buenos Aires next week, I would convey his views to him.

William G. Bowdler 3
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Dominican Republic, Vol. XVII. Confidential. The meeting was held in Bowdlerʼs office. Copies were sent to Sayre and Rostow.↩
  2. See Document 188.↩
  3. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩