215. Telegram From the Embassy in Jamaica to the Department of State1
8091. Subject: President’s Message: Meeting With Prime Minister Designate. Ref: WH8181.2
1. Confidential entire text.
2. Summary. President Carter’s message was delivered to Prime Minister designate Seaga on November 1. Seaga was visibly pleased by it. In the conversation that followed he had one message, we are broke, help us to earn our way out. He says he will have to produce results and the next 30 days are critical. On security he gave me a list of JDF needs (septel).3 Until the vote count is final, probably by the middle of next week, he will not name a Cabinet. He hopes Parliament can be recalled in time to meet on November 6 to review the Suppression of Crimes Act. End summary.
3. Prime Minister designate Edward Seaga received me this morning, November 1, so I could deliver the President’s message of congratulations on Seaga’s election. He moved into Jamaica House, the PM’s office, at the same time and in fact had not even looked around the [Page 516] place yet. He read the Presidential message attentively and without comment although visibly pleased. Hugh Shearer was present throughout. In the conversation that followed, Seaga said he has one message for me and for Washington, “we’re dead broke”. On election day there was not $1 dollar in foreign exchange in the bank although a $10 million loan from OAS received subsequently. This will see the country through the next Wednesday. He then presented me with a list of JDF needs which will be the subject of a septel.
4. Seaga said the next 30 days will be crucial for the future stability and political orientation of Jamaica. The people do not expect miracles, but they do expect visible movement on the economy. In addition to security forces needs, his priorities are food, raw materials and jobs. All require money, money that must come first of all from Jamaica and hopefully from foreign investment. He again stressed his intentions to get Jamaica out of the debt trap by relying on increased foreign exchange earnings and investment rather than loans. He claimed debt servicing next year will cost over $500 million.
5. Other issues raised during the meeting were the Cabinet and the Parliament. Members of the Cabinet will not be named until final results are in on all the elections, probably not until next Tuesday or Wednesday. Seaga is pushing the bureaucracy to finish ASAP. In the interim he will take charge of security and foreign affairs himself. Another reason he is anxious to get the election results settled quickly is the necessity to call Parliament into session November 6 to review the Suppression of Crimes Act which will otherwise expire November 9.
6. I told Seaga that I felt it would be useful and important for me to bring the AID Mission Director and the Embassy Economic Counsellor to meet with him and appropriate members of his staff ASAP. The purpose would be to explain the goals and operations of our AID Mission and to have an in depth discussion on their views of the economy and how they plan to get it moving.
7. Hugh Shearer noted with great glee a reported claim by Radio Moscow that with the departure of the Manley government the USSR had [garble—lost an?] ally. He and Seaga then mentioned their monitoring of the PNP radio gave them some cause for concern. They said they heard PNP General Secretary D.K. Duncan screaming for a revolutionary reaction to new government. We have heard these rantings and ravings by Duncan. They are in character with what we know about him but with the security forces playing an independent constitutional role he does not have much opportunity to go beyond raving, organizing, and planning just now.
8. Comment. Seaga and Shearer were sober and restrained although clearly delighted with the outcome of the election. The meeting went on as a continuation of the friendly businesslike meetings we have had [Page 517] over the past six months. I would also stress that despite rumblings from the PNP and the far left that they wuz robbed, and blustering statements from some of them, Jamaica’s democratic institutions, with the help of the security forces, are proceeding in an orderly constitutional manner. The people all over the island are calm. Many are still celebrating. There is not panic or insurrection anywhere.4
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800522–1057. Confidential; Niact Immediate. On October 30, the JLP won 57.6 percent of the popular vote in the Jamaican national elections, easily defeating the PNP.↩
- Not found.↩
- In telegram 8093 from Kingston, November 1, the Embassy listed the various military equipment Seaga had requested. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800521–0621)↩
- Lawrence also visited Manley on November 1. Manley blamed his defeat on police interference, election violence, and the economy. (Telegram 8092 from Kingston, November 1; Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Country File, Box 40, Jamaica, 1/77–10/79 through Japan, 6–12/78)↩