52. Telegram From the Embassy in Guatemala to the Department of State1
5875. Subject: (U) Continuing the Dialogue: Meeting With President Lucas.
1. C-Entire text.
2. Following is the substance of an hour-long conversation I had late yesterday with President Lucas at his residence. The meeting was arranged through General Rene Mendoza but I met with the President alone.
3. I said that during my recent consultations in Washington, the US desire to continue a dialogue with Guatemala had been reconfirmed, that the Department was exploring various means to carry the discussions forward, and that we hoped to make some specific suggestions in the near future. The President agreed completely on the importance of continuing to talk. He was not certain what the content of the dialogue might be but he was convinced we should nevertheless continue to seek roads that might lead us toward better relations and closer cooperation.
4. I mentioned that I had repeated in Washington his concern that the US might be taking actions with a political motivation designed to weaken his government, specifically in the areas of meat exports, supplier credits, and coffee prices. I assured him such was not the case despite his renewed references to these matters in his speech to the anti-Communist rally on Sunday (Guatemala 5768).2 The President declared he had made the statement that Guatemala did not need instructions on democracy because he was somewhat irked by hints by unnamed Americans that Guatemala needed to do much more in the economic and social areas. He thought his government’s record on this score was good, citing the various measures his administration had adopted. I responded it seemed to me that this was not the question at issue. As far as I was aware, everyone was very favorably impressed by his government’s economic and social programs. No doubt more could be done but by and large the record in economic and social [Page 146] action was good. The basic problem lay elsewhere. The US is not satisfied with the state of our relations and would like to be able to work more closely with his government. I said this was not now possible, however, because of incidents like the kidnapping of the 17 labor leaders in Esquintla.3 Such events reflected very badly on Guatemala and made it impossible for us to provide greater support. The President nodded but made no comment.
5. Referring to the recent series of terrorist bombings and loss of life, the President said security forces just that afternoon had discovered and disarmed another powerful bomb on the road to Antigua.4 He was convinced Guatemalan terrorist groups were receiving assistance from Cuba through Nicaragua and Mexico. Lucas declared with some heat that Guatemala was in a state of war—that the radical left had no interest in dialogue, that it wanted only to seize power and that his government intended to win the battle. Guatemala, he said felt abandoned and isolated. It could not count on help from any other country in the Central American area; Nicaragua was dominated by the Sandinistas; El Salvador was in a state of near anarchy; and, Mexico was openly hostile. It was for this reason that Guatemalan authorities reflected such extreme sensitivity to any action or statement by the US.
6. The President was especially concerned about the economic situation. He thought the radical left had little chance of gaining power by force of arms and that its best prospects lay in producing economic chaos. This was the reason he had mentioned meat, credit, and coffee prices. I asked if the President was aware of all the facts on the meat case noting that in addition to the pesticide problem, meat from one of the embargoed plants had appeared in shipments of plants approved for export to the US. This raised questions of fraud. The President said he was aware of these factors and he realized the Guatemalan producers bore a heavy share of responsibility for the problem. He said he was “putting the squeeze” (apretando) on them.
7. On the question of supplier credits, I assured the President that Department officials were not advising bankers or businessmen against [Page 147] investments in Guatemala. I said, however, that the Department was often requested to supply briefings on the situation and we were, of course, obliged to describe the situation as accurately as possible. It was certainly obvious to everyone that there were problems in Guatemala as evidenced by the fact that the government had recently found it necessary to tighten exchange controls. The President recognized these considerations but said he had received reports that Department officials were specifically advising against providing credit to Guatemala.
8. Turning to coffee prices, I read him portions of Rio’s unclassified telegram 3425 in which the President of the Brazilian Coffee Institute among other things attributed the decline in the coffee market, principally to heavy sales by Colombia and actions of the Central American countries, the lack of frost in the Brazilian producing areas and an unusually hot summer in the US.5 I said at least the Brazilians were not putting the blame on the “gringos.” The President laughed and wondered whether at least the especially hot summer in the US might not have been arranged by the State Department.
9. The President concluded by stating he was now going to have to devote greater concern to his personal security. He said it had been his custom to drive or even walk about the city with only the lightest protection in an effort better to know the concerns of the ordinary Guatemalan citizen. He felt he would now have to abandon this practice.
10. Comment: The conversation was very cordial and friendly throughout. He is clearly interested in further dialogue and any suggestions we might make to advance the process.
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800434–0092. Confidential; Immediate; Limdis.↩
- In telegram 5768 from Guatemala City, September 8, the Embassy reported on Lucas’s September 7 speech to a pro-government rally, noting that Lucas attacked “President Carter, the Nicaraguan Government, Communist terrorists, and ‛bad Guatemalans’ who spread lies abroad.” (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800428–0241)↩
- In telegram 5980 from Guatemala City, September 18, the Embassy described the August 24 kidnapping of 17 labor union members and activists on the grounds of an estate “owned and run by the Catholic Diocese of Escuintla,” and commented that “experience in similar cases suggests that this one will remain similarly unresolved.” (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800449–1115)↩
- In telegram 5729 from Guatemala City, September 5, the Embassy reported on numerous explosions in Guatemala City including “an extremely powerful device (or devices) which exploded in front of the National Palace” that day killing a “minimum four to five people.” The Embassy commented that “the rebel armed forces (FAR) appear to be behind the bombing.” (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800423–0731)↩
- In telegram 3425 from Rio de Janeiro, September 10, the Consulate reported on a September 8 National Exporters meeting in Rio de Janeiro. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800431–0695)↩