ASSISTING GUATEMALAN PROGRESS TOWARD DEMOCRACY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87M00539R001602510005-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 17, 2010
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: July 10, 1985
• Content Type: MEMO

STAT
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/30: CIA-RDP87M00539R001602510005-9
SECRET
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
July 10, 1985
`] 023/1
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HONORABLE GEORGE P. SHULTZ
The Secretary of State
THE HONORABLE JAMES A. BAKER, III
The Secretary of the Treasury
THE HONORABLE CASPAR W. WEINBERGER
The Secretary of Defense
THE HONORABLE JOHN R. BLOCK
The Secretary of Agriculture
THE HONORABLE WILLIAM J. CASEY
Director of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT: Assisting Guatemalan Progress Toward Democracy (C)
During the past few weeks there has been valuable cooperation by
a number of agencies in considering ways in which we could assist
Guatemala during the period before the November 1985 elections.
Recent reporting from Guatemala has underlined the political
fragility which the Mejia government will face in the months
ahead. The following actions would make an important
contribution in assuring that the Guatemalan elections take place
in a stable atmosphere. (S)
-- Technical Hel for the Elections: The State Department and
AID s ou d encourage t e National Endowment for Democracy to
fund projects related to the upcoming elections. Projects
. now being considered to print ballot paper and train poll
watchers should be given high priority. (C)
-- Assistance in Dealing with Energy Problems: State and AID
are encouraged to identffy funds which could be reprogrammed
to finance the repair or partial replacement of Guatemala's
thermal generators. (C)
-- PL-480 and CCC Credits: An additional allocation of $5
m1 ion out o t e FY-85 Title I reserve has received
interagency approval. The Treasury Department has noted
that at a time when Guatemala has accumulated some debt
arrearages, concessional PL-480 would be a more appropriate
form of assistance than commercial-rate CCC guarantees. For
this reason, Treasury, State and Agriculture should examine
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again the possibility of providing additional PL-480 for
Guatemala. Any PL-480 which can be allocated from the Title
I reserve can substitute for the $25 million tranche of CCC
guarantees which is currently due for release. If no new
PL-480 can be identified, on July 17,1985 the Agriculture
Department should release to Guatemala $20 million in CCC
guarantees. (C)
Facilitate FMS-Cash Requests for S are Parts: Defense
should seek to raise the delivery priority of Guatemala's
FMS case for spare parts. (C)
Robert C. Mc arlane
SECRET
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