Office of the Historian

336. Telegram 130541 From the Department of State to the Embassy in Uruguay1

Washington, July 3, 1973, 2103Z.

130541. Subject: July 4 Meeting. Ref: Montevideo 2025.

1. If President Bordaberry calls and asks you how the US views current developments in Uruguay, you may respond as you have indicated in para 4, except that you should not repeat not indicate that the US shares with Uruguay common institutions and commitment to democratic ideals. You should convey that we are interested in events in Uruguay and concerned about the future. You should avoid giving the impression that we are indifferent to the closing of the legislature. You should also convey the impression that we have for Uruguay every good wish for the future.

2. You should also refer to President Nixon’s October 1969 speech on the general attitude of the US government to internal governmental changes in Latin America when the President said “. . . we must deal realistically with governments in the inter-American system as they are. We have, of course, . . . a preference for democratic procedures. . .”

Rush

  1. Summary: The Department concurred with the Embassy’s recommendation on how to respond to President Bordaberry’s potential inquiry, with a few caveats.

    Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, [no film number]. Confidential; Immediate; Limdis. Drafted by Kenneth N. Rogers of ARA/LA/APU; approved by Hurwitch; and cleared by Stedman. The full text of Nixon’s speech is in Public Papers: Nixon, 1969, pp 887–891. Telegram 2025 from the Embassy in Uruguay to the Department of State is Document 335.

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