Page 116 - Argentina - Carter, Regan, and Bush VP

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us is out-of-date and wrong. For a short time, in early 1977,
'the Southern Cone countries — led by Brazil but including
Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay — tried to establish
a bloc to confront our human rights policy. Because these
governments distrusted each other more than they despised
President Carter, the movement did not get off the ground, and
indeed they were all over the lot at the O.A.S. General Assembly.

Argentina, Brazil, and Chile are big- countries with extremely
narrow, ultra-conservative authoritarian governments. The
narrowness of their view is reflected in, among other things,
the pettiness of their international disputes with one another.
Chile and Argentina have almost gone to war over the Beagle
Channel, and Brazil and Argentina have strained their relations
almost to the breaking point on the issue of water rights.

Our relations with Brazil are now better than they have been
at any time since January 1977, and they are as good as can
be expected given our non-proliferation policy, and the deliberate
chill which Silveira injects into the relationship. We have
tried through the working groups and the visits by the President
and Vance to develop a cooperative relationship, but that will
have to await Brazil's new government next year.
What Kissinger failed to see, after completing his talks with
the military leaders in Argentina and Brazil, is that Jimmy
Carter has inspired a younger generation of Latin Americans;
no other American President in this century has done that.
Even Jack Kennedy, who was loved in Latin America, was suspected
in the universities because of his strong anti-Communism and the
Bay of Pigs intervention. Carter is' clearly viewed as a man of
great moral stature in Latin America, and that inspires the
young and the democratic and embarrasses, and unfortunately,
sometimes infuriates some of the conservatives and the military.
Carter's stature has translated into real influence unlike any­
thing the U.S. has had since we turned in our gunboats, and at
the same time, it has given the U.S. a future in Latin America,
which we had almost lost.

The best indication that the U.S. is winning in the Southern
Cone, even though governmental antagonism is evident, is that
the Argentines are still hungry for a return to normalcy in our
relations. They use every opportunity and every channel —
including Kissinger — to try to get Carter's approval. Thirty,
twenty, even ten years ago, the idea that the Argentines would
ask the U.S. to bestow upon them the mantle of legitimacy would
have been unthinkable, even laughable. Today, it's real.

The Argentines are a proud people, but they are also embarrassed
by the human rights situation. They are also more sophisticated

CONFIDENTIAL - GDS