Video Transcript
Diego Asencio—Example of Excellence:
Highlight
In April of 1980, when I managed to work my way out of my hostage situation and was flown to Cuba. There a State Department plane was waiting for me and took me to Homestead Air Base. From there I went on to Washington on Air Force One, and landed at Andrews Air Force Base. And I guess the extraordinary part, the high point, was that I had waiting for me Vice President Mondale, the acting Secretary of State Warren Christopher, the Secretary General of the OAS and ambassadors of the various countries that had been represented in the hostage situation. And there was an artillery unit giving me a multi-gun salute. From there I went to the State Department, and the diplomatic reception area was full of my colleagues from the State Department. It was a very emotional scene. From there I went to a press conference. From the press conference I was then whisked to the White House and was received by President Jimmy Carter. Now the high point was the fact that in the best Departmental tradition a car from the State Department took me to the White House and left me there. And I was stranded. And visiting the President at the time was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Jim Wright, and he offered me his car to ride back to the Department of State. I thought that was a real high point.
Low Point
The low point was actually related to the high point, in the sense that in February of 1980, I was at the Dominican Embassy at a national day celebration in Bogotá, and suddenly a shootout started, where I wound up on the floor being sprinkled by glass as the rounds came in through the window – and eventually was forced to go to the front door by the terrorists who had taken over the Dominican Embassy, and asked for a cease fire. It felt very lonely. And I really believed that I was dead, that there was absolutely no way I was going to survive the situation. So I think that would qualify as a low point.
Vignette
When I was in Caracas, I was the DCM as I said. And at one point, the Minister of Information, a very dear friend by the name of Diego Arria, called me and said, “On your way home why don’t you stop off and have a drink at my place?” And of course I knew that he presumably had something to tell me. And what had happened was that the New York Times had carried a story saying that President Carlos Andres Perez had been on the CIA payroll when he had been Minister of Interior. This was the period 1975-76. So I walked into Diego’s living room and he handed me the phone, and it was President Perez. And he said, “At this very moment, the Foreign Minister is calling your office to tell you that we’re going to demand the withdrawal of the political section – not only the overt one but the covert one, as a result of there being no explanation or response on the part of the U.S. Government to this publication, this scurrilous publication, in the New York Times.” And I said, “Mr. President, if you do that, it’ll take about ten years to get relations back on an even track. I really don’t recommend it.” And he said that, “This is not a question of ‘whether.’ I’ve already taken the decision and you’re being sought. We decided to do it through you, because if we called in the ambassador, it would escalate it even farther than we are going to do it. But we’re going to do it.” And I said, “Well, you know, Mr. President, I had talked to the State Department earlier today and they told me that there’s actually a draft letter being circulated to be signed by the President, which in fact says that you’re a good fellow and that it isn’t true. And this is very unusual from the standpoint of the State Department, or the U.S. Government, in the sense that we never confirm or deny things that come out about intelligence stuff.” And he said, “When do you think the letter would arrive?” And I said, “It would probably come in by tomorrow morning.” And he said, “Don’t go home. They’re waiting for you there, and they’re going to hand this order telling you to get rid of the political section.” He said, “Go down to the beach, have dinner down there, stay there if you have to. They’ll never find you there.” And so I left Diego’s house, and the car radio went on and the duty officer said, “You better come back to the embassy. There’s something unusual coming in.” So I went back and there was this beautiful letter from Jimmy Carter saying what I had said, that he was a good fellow and that this story wasn’t true. So I called Diego Arria back, and I said, “It’s here.” And he said, “Don’t bother typing it up. Just take it right off the machine. Go to the palace, the Presidential Palace. I’ll take care of everything else.” So I went by and got the ambassador, Pete Vaky – fabulous fellow, really good friend of mine – and together we went to meet to Miraflores Palace. And of course Diego Arria had gotten every newspaperman in Caracas there. They had television cameras, they had movie cameras, they had people there, well over 100 journalists. And as we walked into the palace they followed us with the cameras going, and they followed us right into the President’s office. And he was sitting there with his arms crossed, like this. With a frown on his face, like this. And we sat down and Pete handed him the letter. And he opened the envelope, took it out, looked up and went (big smile). And he said, “Get the journalists out of here.” They got them all out of the office, and he turned to the Foreign Minister, who was seated next to him, and said, “Read this to me. I don’t know how to read English.”
Reflection
I think Brazil is a very special place – has had a very special place in U.S. history, has always sought a special relationship with the United States, because it was one of two cultural sports in the hemisphere – the only two countries, presumably, of some size that don’t speak Spanish. And we really generally are not aware of that special relationship or putative special relationship in the United States. For instance, we’re not aware that during the Spanish-American War, they turned over all their ship building contracts to us, so that we could build up the fleet to face the Spaniards. We’re not aware that during World War 1 they patrolled the South Atlantic. We’re not aware that during World War II there was a Brazilian expeditionary force in Italy. And as we were charging up the hill at Monte Casino, they were charging up the hill at Monte Costello and took enormous casualties. And people, army people, who are terribly proud of their association, not only with the United States, but specifically with the U.S. Army. And we lived off of that for some time, because, for instance, my first tour in Brazil, and I’m talking about 1972, almost the entire general staff were veterans of the Brazilian expeditionary force of World War II. And we lived off that. And then, when I got there as ambassador in 1983, I was there when the last member of the general staff who had been a veteran of World War II retired. I don’t think the relationship with Brazil has been the same since. And what I’m saying is that if you go down to Rio de Janeiro, there’s a tremendous monument to that World War II period and a tomb for the casualties. And I’m not sure that more than maybe 100 people in the United States are aware of this. And it was an important part of how I could relate to the society there. And the fact that relations have sort of deteriorated to a certain extent since that time – I don’t think entirely but a certain extent – I think it’s due to the fact that even our political leadership – that, for instance, when Lyndon Johnson invaded the Dominican Republic, there was a Brazilian military unit that went in with the Airborne. And this doesn’t happen anymore, because they essentially came to the conclusion that we didn’t really care, and it didn’t matter, and that they were paying a price for their relationship with us. And I really think that that is one of the basic tragedies of our relations with Latin America – the fact we treat them as any other “banana republic.” And they resent it. They think they’re big boys, and they are.