297. Telegram 86749 From the Department of State to the Embassy in Peru1
86749. Subject: Letter to Foreign Minister of Peru
1. Please arrange for the following letter from the Secretary to be passed to Foreign Minister de la Flor at the earliest possible time.
2. Begin text. Dear Miguel Angel: Before I depart Washington for the Middle East this weekend, I want to tell you once again how much I enjoyed being with you in both Washington and Atlanta this past week.
3. In my view, the meeting of Foreign Ministers in Washington worked out very well. I think it served to strengthen our dialogue, to define the issues more clearly, and to launch the kind of analytical and technical work program we need in order to find solutions to some of the problems we have been considering—I look forward to continuing working closely and personally with you during the months ahead as we strive to improve Inter-American relationships still further and greatly increase our progress towards common objectives.
4. When we met privately in Atlanta, you asked for my help in obtaining supplies of wheat and urea fertilizer for Peru. Since my return to Washington, I have looked into this and, in the case of wheat, have made arrangements for the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to extend credit to Peru immediately for 100,000 tons of new crop wheat. As you know there have been sharp cutbacks in this program, so this will be an exception to the CCC’s current policy—an exception which I have arranged on the basis of our conversation. You should have your Embassy here in Washington make the application directly to Mr. Clayton Yeutter, Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Commodity Programs, in our Department of Agriculture.
5. Unfortunately, the outlook for urea fertilizer is far less encouraging. I am informed that urea is in very short supply. However, there may be some possibility that we could help Peru arrange for commercial [Page 796] contracts for some small lots of urea. We would be more than happy to assist Peruvian purchasing agents in attempting to locate supplies for delivery later in the year, after our peak demand season in the United States. If you would like further help on this, please let me know, or, if you prefer, have your Embassy or purchasing agent in the United States get in touch with Jack Kubisch and I will leave instructions for him on this matter.
6. On another subject, we have passed word to the Chilean authorities in Santiago that we understand Mexico would be willing to offer asylum to Clodomiro Almeyda and Orlando Letelier and ensure that they did not engage in any political activity. I will let you know when and if I hear anything further from them on this.
7. Once again, thanks for all your help in both Washington and Atlanta. It is always a very special personal pleasure for me to see and be with you. With warmest regards, Henry. End text.
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Summary: Following up on meetings with de la Flor during multilateral meetings in Washington and Atlanta, Kissinger informed the Peruvian Foreign Minister that he had arranged for CCC credits for wheat for Peru.
Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P850093–2277. Secret; Immediate; Nodis. Drafted by Kubisch; cleared by Enders, Butz, Simon and Dunlop; approved by Kissinger. On April 17, Kissinger and de la Flor met in Washington, and discussed Latin American regional issues, economic assistance, and Middle Eastern issues. (Ibid., P820043–1933) A record of the Kissinger-de la Flor meeting in Atlanta has not been found. Kissinger and de la Flor were in Washington for a meeting of the hemisphere’s Foreign Ministers and in Atlanta for a meeting of the OASGA.
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