Page 344 - Argentina - Carter, Regan, and Bush VP

No Objection To Declassification in i-ull 2012/04/16 : NLC-133-22-30-2-4
” VJUw) Ct

We have also approved the licensing of 16 safety-related
munitions items from FMS, and are currently considering another
group of requests. ^

We have informed the Argentine government that if they reach
agreement on terms for a visit by the Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights/ and there is no deterioration in the human
rights situation, we will go ahead with military training to
them and will recommend that the Export-Import Bank permit two
major credit sales.

The most pressing deadline is October 1, 1978, when the Kennedy-
Humphrey amendment prohibiting new arms transfers, and the Roybal
amendment, eliminating grant military training to Argentina, come
into effect. Both the Argentines and we are eager to take steps
which would permit the enormous back-lcg of credit to be com­
mitted before then. (There are over 7.5 pending FMS cases for
$50 million and $150 million on the munitions control lists.)
There are also funds for military training, which are being
held up, and which the President noted (on June 29) that he had
a "slight" inclination to find an excuse for approving.

Our current objectives are to urge the G0A-: (1) to permit the
IAHRC to visit in accordance with the IAHRCl's regulations;
(2) to begin releasing large numbers oij prisoners (without re­
arresting them); (3) to stop the disappearances and explain
those which have occurred; and (4) to seek a return .to the rule
of law.

Everything is stuck now pending Argentina's reaching agreement
with the Inter-American Commission or moving on one of the
other objectives above. This basic decision, made in accordance
with various legislative requirements, was made by State without
consulting NSC.

III. Future U.S. Policy: who Blinks at the Brink?

Have we gone too far? Have we pushed our policy beyond its
effectiveness? Are we pushing the Argentines over the edge and
jeopardizing our future relationship? Does the terror justify
the repression?

The last question is definitely the easiest. First of all,
President Videla told our Ambassador in April 1978 that the
war against subversion in Argentina had ended and that he was
working to restore the rule of law. Terrorism has not’ left
Argentina, but it is now the exception{ not the rule. And
Videla, himself, admits that the war is over; we are just
encouraging that he secure his own promise. But regardless,
a central tenet of our human rights policy is that government-
sanctioned repression never solves terrorism. As Vance said in
his OAS speech last year, "The surest way to defeat terrorism
is to promote justice. . . Justice that is summary undermines
the future it seeks to promote, rt produces only more
violence..."

CONFIDENTIAL-- -GDS