Word: alfonsin
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During a subsequent hour-long private chat between the two Presidents, their differences over Central America remained muted. Alfonsin repeated his belief in the need for a peaceful solution in the region, along the lines suggested by the so-called Contadora group of Latin American countries--Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela--that is sponsoring regional peace talks. He did not challenge Reagan's description of the U.S.-supported contra rebels, who are warring against Nicaragua's Sandinista government, as "freedom fighters." According to U.S. officials, Alfonsin told Reagan that when pondering the Central American crisis, he took into consideration "data...
...Argentina, which shares a 2,500-mile border with Chile, is known to be deeply concerned that the Moscow-leaning Chilean Communist Party has with increasing stridency voiced support for "all means of struggle," including armed warfare, against the government of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. A U.S. official described Alfonsin's assessment of the problem as "not alarmist. He didn't urge the U.S. to take any action...
Reagan strove to be as tactful on economic issues as Alfonsin was on political questions. The U.S. President chose not to reply directly to Argentina's most immediate plea for U.S. assistance, a request for a $500 million "bridge loan" to help the country ride out the debt crisis. But Reagan did assure Alfonsin that, as a U.S. official later put it, "we stand ready to help where we can." Later, Reagan aides expressed skepticism that the U.S. could or would do much on the debt question. "He would like our support," said one U.S. official...
...Alfonsin raised the economic issue in public two more times during his Washington stay, in an address before a joint session of Congress, after which & he was given a two-minute ovation, and at a meeting of the 32-member Organization of American States. At the OAS he used his strongest language. "There are some who say that the burden of these debts should fall upon the backs of those who have less and those who receive nothing," he said. "If we were to accept that, the whole (South American) continent would have few chances of surviving...
Prior to the OAS speech, Alfonsin held what was probably the most crucial of all his meetings in the U.S., a breakfast session with Jacques de Larosiere, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund. The IMF had promised Argentina $1.4 billion in special credits in return for compliance with a severe anti-inflation program. Last week, however, the IMF suspended further disbursements of its funds on the grounds that Argentina is failing to meet specified austerity targets. Commercial banks did the same...