104-10072-10243 ie, wn S ~ x Ne 4 ‘\ x Y — 3 ~ af ™~ 24 April 1970 MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD / SUBJECT: Meeting With (WusLAB/1/ on 22 April 1970 1. Arrangements and Security: The meeting took place in the fofficetisafehouse] at 1400 on the above date and ended at 1500. There were no incidents of a security nature. 2. Production: Bolivian Ambassador Julio Sanjines Goytia talked on the phone to president Ovando on 20 April. Ovando said that there was pressure from the civilian members of the cabinet on the Debray case. They related their request that Debray should be released. to a letter Ovando wrote the. Italian novelist Alberto Moravia which they claimed stated he would release Debray. Ovando commented to Sanjines that he had not committed himself to release Debray. The civilians think that the release of Debray and Bustos would take the pressure off the government. Ovando admitted that the govern- ment could not control the students. The Minister of Education had been destroyed when the USIS installation was damaged. Ovando commented that he would reconsider the Debray situation and commented that there were no legal precedents for Debray's release. The military will go along with it if Ovando and the cabinet will put down the union members if needed. Marcelo Quiroga still claims to be able to influence a segment of the mineworkers. Ovando'does not want to suppress by force the student demonstrations. Ovando indicated that there is a wave of uneasiness in the country. He is thinking about taking a stronger hand in certain issues and compromise on other issues.  3.. Minister of Planning Jose Ortiz Mercado is coming to Washington on 2 May for a four day visit before he -.goes, to San Jose for the inauguration of pepe Figueres. {WUSLAB/1 believes that Ortiz will be fErant’with him), and t@11 him what the situation is like back in La Paz. He will attend the [ciap®review] of the Bolivian program. 4. Sanjines described the Rogelio Miranda Baldivia problem (Miranda is the Army Chief of Staff in Bolivia) as a personal matter which has now become ideological. He does not get along with General Juan Jose Torres, the Commander of the. Armed Forces. Miranda is now trying to change some ‘commanders in field commands. RETURN TO CAG roy So : ackground Use Qo le: Lp pisses. 0 Not Reproduce 1 ol ol Web baits oaks
14-00000 an 5. I: asked some clarifying questions on the OAS report of a possible demonstration against the OAS Assembly in Santo Domingo in June 1970. He said that Rolz-Bennett normally maintains contact with the OAS Deputy Secretary General Urquia, who is a close personal friend and is also a Central- American. The head of the UNDP office in Santo Domingo is Hugo Navegas. He has been asked to get the information on the possibility of such a disruption. 6. Victor Paz Estenssoro, is one of three experts picked up under an OAS contract with the University of Engineering in Lima. In actuality, Paz will receive a P-4 salary from the OAS. The project is up for board approval and will last at least a year, / 7. (wusLaB/1]went on at length on the difficulties between Miss Alexander, the former Bolivian ambassador to the OAS whose parents were murdered in La Paz, and Sanjines. In brief, Miss Alexander was accompanied to Washington by a catholic priest _ Father Eduardo. Sanjines offered to find him lodging in a Washington monastery, but he demurred. Whenever Sanjines called Miss Alexander during crises in Bolivia at early morning hours the father would answer the phone. He also helped with Miss Alexander's work at the OAS and was around the Embassy office. Sanjines once found them doing some research in his files. Colonel Banzer, when assigned to Washington, said that there was an intelligence report that Father Eduardo had been involved with the guerrillas. The military finally forced the father to leave the Embassy. Miss Alexander sent him $100 on which to live. When her parents were killed he reappeared.. When Miss Alexander returned to La Paz she read a written report submitted by Sanjines on her affair with the priest, and when she came back to Washington she called up Sanjines.and told him off. 8. Sanjines said that his relations with the State Department have cooled off. He thinks that the nationaliza- tion of Gulf Oil has weakened the government. There is a vacuum in Bolivia and this has.caused the present Bolivian government to be much more subservient to the United States than was the government of Rene Barrientos. He believes, however, that his own position with the Bolivian government had been strengthened. Sanjines is going to San Jose for the presidential inauguration. He heard from Colonel Ayoroa ‘that Victor Paz Estenssoro as a personal friend of Figueres, had also been invited to the inauguration. Sanjines said that it would be interesting to talk to Paz. 9. I asked (WUSLAB/1/if there were any recent develop- ents between and the Soviet Embassy. During
14-00000 {nis absence received a telephone call from K , the soviet Under-Secretary, who asked that send directly to him Congressional reports on Chemical Warfare, USSR-US cultural exchanges, hearings on the Kv. fi a tions These documents are being sent to KUTAKOV. {WUSLAB/1/remarked t KuraKoy. | in theTinformation and never, the I They were interested in 10. Plans: The next,,meeting will be on 28 April at / 1400. WUSLAB/1 goes to on 29 April to have his eyes checked. FLOYD B. MCCULLY y Wit tot, o Seth ggae § epee te FLEES Wiest ithe ds Tegel Glas ae