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[2]Iitoa-10072-10243 | 2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992 |.
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[17]24 April 1970
[19]MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
[20]SUBJECT: Meeting With mesas/a]on 22 April 1970
[22]1. Arrangements and Securit The meeting took place
[23]in the officetsafehouse] at 1400 on the above date and ended
[25]at 1500. There were no incidents of a security nature.
[27]2. Production: Bolivian Ambassador Julio Sanjines
[29]Goytia talked on the phone to president Ovando on 20 April.
[30]Ovando said that there was pressure from the civilian members
[31]of the cabinet on the Debray case. They related their request
[32]that Debray should be released.to a letter Ovando wrote the.
[33]Italian novelist Alberto Moravia which they claimed stated
[35]he would release Debray. Ovando commented to Sanjines that
[37]he had not committed himself to release Debray. The civilians
[38]think that the release of Debray and Bustos would take the
[39]pressure off the government. Ovando admitted that the govern-
[40]ment could not control the students. The Minister of Education
[41]had been destroyed when the USIS installation was damaged.
[42]Ovando commented that he would reconsider the Debray situation
[43]and commented that there were no legal precedents for Debray's
[44]release. The military will go along with it if Ovando and
[46]the cabinet will put down the union members if needed. Marcelo
[47]Quiroga still claims to be able to influence a segment of the
[48]mineworkers. Ovando'does not want to suppress by force the
[49]student demonstrations. Ovando indicated that there iS a wave
[50]of uneasiness in the country. He is thinking about taking a
[51]stronger hand in certain issues and compromise on other issues.
[53]_ 3.. Minister of Planning Jose Ortiz Mercado is coming to
[54]Washington on 2 May for a four day visit before he -goes; to
[55]San Jose for the inauguration of pepe Figueres. WUSLAB/1] ;
[56]believes that Ortiz will be fFran®%with him) and téll him what
[57]the situation is like back in La Paz. He will attend the
[58][ctaP review] of the Bolivian program.
[60]; 4. Sanjines described the Rogelio Miranda Baldivia
[61]problem (Miranda is the Army Chief of Staff in Bolivia) as
[63]a personal matter which has now become ideological. He does
[65]not get along with General Juan Jose Torres, the Commander of
[67]the. Armed Forces. Miranda is now trying to change some
[69]‘commanders in field commands.
[71]RETURN TO Chae oy SS
[73]Pground Use @oiye1ELD QiS+2
[75]0 Not Reproduce
[77]__SEGHET
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[84]va 5. I-asked some clarifying questions on the OAS report
[85]of a possible demonstration against the OAS Assembly in Santo
[86]Domingo in June 1970. He said that Rolz-Bennett normally
[87]maintains contact with the OAS Deputy Secretary General
[88]Urquia, who is a close personal friend and is also a Central-
[89]American. The head of the UNDP office in Santo Domingo is
[90]Hugo Navegas. He has been asked to get the information on
[91]the possibility of such a disruption.
[93]6. Victor Paz Estenssoro, is one of three experts picked
[94]up under an OAS contract with the University of Engineering
[95]in Lima. In actuality, Paz will receive a P-4 salary from
[96]the OAS. The project is up for board approval and will last
[97]at least a year.
[101]7. (wusLaB/I]went on at length on the difficulties between
[102]Miss Alexander, the former Bolivian ambassador to the OAS whose
[103]parents were murdered in La Paz, and Sanjines. In brief, Miss
[104]Alexander was accompanied to Washington by a catholic priest
[105]Father Eduardo. Sanjines offered to find him lodging in a
[107]’ Washington monastery, but he demurred. Whenever Sanjines
[109]called Miss Alexander during crises in Bolivia at early morning ee
[110]hours the father would answer the phone. He also helped with aa
[111]Miss Alexander's work at the OAS and was around the Embassy
[112]office. Sanjines once found them doing some research in his
[113]files. Colonel Banzer, when assigned to Washington, said
[114]that there was an intelligence report that Father Eduardo
[115]had been involved with the guerrillas. The military finally
[116]forced the father to leave the Embassy. Miss Alexander sent
[117]him $100 on which to live. When her parents were killed he
[118]reappeared... When Miss Alexander returned to La Paz she read
[119]a written report submitted by Sanjines on her affair with
[120]the priest, and when she came back to Washington she called
[121]up Sanjines. and told him off.
[123]8. Sanjines said that his relations with the State
[124]Department have cooled off. He thinks that the nationaliza-
[125]tion of Gulf Oil has weakened the government. There is a
[126]vacuum in Bolivia and this has.caused the present Bolivian
[127]government to be much more subservient to the United States
[128]than was the government of Rene Barrientos. He believes,
[129]however, that his own position with the Bolivian government
[130]had been strengthened. Sanjines is going to San Jose for
[131]the presidential inauguration. He heard from Colonel Ayoroa
[132]‘that Victor Paz Estenssoro as a personal friend of Figueres,
[133]had also been invited to the inauguration. Sanjines said
[134]that it would be interesting to talk to Paz.
[136]Lo, /
[137]9. I asked WUSLAB/1/if there were any recent develop-
[138]ents between] his assistant) and the Soviet Embassy. During 7
[140]cee)
[141]rd
[144]14-00000
[146]Lae a . .
[148]| -3-
[150]. 3,6 .
[152](nis absence Mr. Peary, his assistant], received a telephone
[153]call from KUTAKOV, the Soviet Under-Secretary, who asked
[154]that Peary/send directly to him Congressional reports on
[155]Chemical Warfare, USSR-US cultural exchanges, hearings on ~
[156]the United. Nations These documents are being sent to
[157]KUTAKOV. [wo LAB/1j/remarked thatgthe Soviets are always
[158]interested in theTJinformation aSSistants in his office
[159]and never, the (ef fite%director). They were interested in
[161][ Manton, THompson and Peary}
[163]10. , Plans: The next,meeting will be on 28 April at
[165]1400. [WUSLAB/T/g0es tofBaltimorefon 29 April to have his
[166]eyes checked. ;
[168]FLOYD B. MCCULLY
[170]Cot
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