Letter from Mexican Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Washington, to Mexican Foreign Minister

X/442/17

SUBJECT: Organ of Consultation

Washington DC

26 October 1962

CONFIDENTIAL

C. Manuel Tello

Secretariat [Ministry] of Foreign Relations

General Directorate of International Organs [Organismos]

Mexico, DF

Please find enclosed three examples of the reports by Argentina, Costa Rica, the United States and the Dominican Republic, about the measures that their respective governments have adopted in accordance with paragraph 2 of the Resolution of the 23rd of this month.

As it would be helpful for you to remember, in paragraph 4 of this Resolution, members are urged to keep the Organ of Consultation dutifully informed about these kinds of measures. The day after the adoption of the Resolution, [in response] to my question, Mr. [Ward P.] Allen, from the North American delegation, answered that the State Department was planning to request a meeting of the Organ of Consultation today, Friday, precisely to receive the information that has been sent to me by mail.

Undoubtedly wishing to be attentive, this American functionary communicated last night with Minister [Andrés] Fenochio to inform him that the State Department had given up on the aforementioned project [draft] and suggested to the governments that were taking measures to record the corresponding information in writing. Mr. Allen added that in this way it would be possible to avoid governments that have not yet taken measures and those that have decided not to take measures of any kind, being seen to be placed in an embarrassing situation. He summed his thinking by the use of the idiomatic phrase “we do not want to put countries like Mexico on the spot.” [in English in original—trans.]

Although his attitude had displeased me a great deal, today I did not look for Mr. Allen since I knew that he had interest in talking to me about the need of summoning the Commission on Judicial-Political Affairs that I preside. In fact, he has just called me; we agreed to convene the Commission and, at the end of the conversation, I alluded to the one that I had had yesterday with Mr. Fenochio.

When he confirmed to me what he had said, exactly in the same terms that Mr. Fenochio had communicated to me, I told him that he could be sure that, in the whole process that the OAS observes with respect to the serious situation that we are going through, the Mexican government would never view itself as being in an embarrassing situation and that, for the same reason, this possibility should be discarded when he would be collaborating in determining the course of action of the Delegation of the United States. Undoubtedly referring to my violent reaction at the secret meeting that the North American Delegation organized on the eve of the of the Budget vote, he told me that it was very difficult to get on with me since I was unhappy when my feelings were not taken into account and I was also unhappy when they took them too much into account. I limited myself in saying to him that the difficulty lies in his lack of understanding and that, instead of going over things that have already past, the important thing, was to clearly establish that the Mexican Government has no objection to the Organ of Consultation having as many meetings as the member states wish.

Very attentively,

Vicente Sanchez Gavito

Ambassador