154. Telegram From the Embassy in Nicaragua to the Department of State1
6206. For Deputy Secretary Christopher and Assistant Secretary Vaky From Bowdler—Caracas, Panama and San Jose for Ambassador only. Subject: Nicaragua Mediation No. 184: FAO Moves Toward Support Plebiscite.
1. In meeting with FAOGPC leader Alfonso Robelo this morning I carefully went over talking points (State 301569).2 Robelo said NG’s latest plebiscite statement was persuasive and had been well received by his MDN colleagues. He seemed confident plebiscite would be approved in this afternoon’s FAO plenum.
2. Robelo added that FAO has now heard from Carlos Andres Perez regarding mediation and plebiscite proposal. Perez, he said, had urged FAO to approve plebiscite proposal, and to be “audacious” in [Page 408] order to seize the initiative and approve proposal before Somoza reacts to it.
3. At luncheon given today by banker Eduardo Montealegre for large number of conservative and liberal politicians, businessmen and various opposition representatives, conversations centered on plebiscite. Opposition leaders said they have brought around Robelo’s MDN and some other erstwhile opponents of plebiscite. As of mid-afternoon they believed they could count a 10-to-2 vote in favor, and were still working on Rodolfo Robelo’s leftist PLI. FAO–PC member Cordova Rivas told Ambassador Solaun and Dick Barnebey, in separate conversations, that FAO would vote favorably, and attempt to keep conditions out of the FAO reply. Instead these could be offered later on, when definitive plebiscite arrangements are made. Reason, according to Cordova Rivas, is to put Somoza on the spot as he tries to respond to the NG; Somoza thus could not object to specific FAO conditions as pretext for refusing to concur with the basic plebiscite proposal. In my presence heads of Banco De Nicaragua and Banco De America pledged to Cordova Rivas that FAO could count on whatever funds are necessary to conduct the plebiscite campaign.
4. Robelo also told me FAO representatives would call on Archbishop Obando this afternoon before the FAO vote, hoping to obtain his concurrence on the plebiscite issue. Obando, for his part, issued another general statement calling for a peaceful settlement (without mention of the mediation effort or the plebiscite proposal).
5. Media coverage has dismissed since yesterday, and treatment continues mixed on the plebiscite proposal. La Prensa ran a short AFP item quoting Somoza as saying to a reporter he intends to stay in presidence until 1981. (Comment: Paradoxically, this item, which was also widely carried on radio, may have helped persuade some FAO critics of plebiscite to support it, since they expect Somoza to block it and therefore to be blamed for intransigence.) La Prensa editors told Ambassador they would carry more favorable coverage on plebiscite in tomorrow’s issue.3
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P780187–2353. Secret; Niact Immediate; Exdis Distribute as Nodis. Sent for information Immediate to Caracas, Panama City, and San José.↩
- See footnote 2, Document 153.↩
- In telegram 6225 from Managua, November 30, Bowdler sent an English-language translation of the FAO’s November 27 qualified acceptance of the Negotiating Group’s proposal and stipulations to “guarantee the effectiveness of the popular vote.” (National Archives, RG 59, Office of the Secretariat Staff, Records of the Office of the Deputy Secretary, Warren Christopher, Lot 81D113, Box 22, Human Rights—Nicaragua VIII) In telegram 6213 from Managua, November 30, the Embassy included the full Spanish-language text of the FAO reply to the Negotiating Group’s plebiscite proposal. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780494–0639)↩