VENEZUELA COUNTRY READER TABLE OF CONTENTS Henry S. Villard 1936-1937 Second Secretary, Caracas John F. Melby 1939-1941 Political/Military Officer, Caracas William L. Blue 1942-1944 Consular Officer, Ciudad Bolivar Maurice Bernbaum 1942-1943 Vice Consul, Caracas Edward Warren Holmes 1947-1950 Consular Officer, Caracas Joseph McEvoy 1951-1954 Public Affairs Officer, USIS, Caracas Harry Haven Kendall 1951-1955 Information Officer, Public Affairs Assistant, USIS, Caracas Roy R. Rubottom, Jr. 1952-1953 Venezuelan Trade Negotiations, Caracas John J. Crowley, Jr. 1952-1955 Information Staff Officer, Maracaibo 1977-1980 Deputy Chief of Mission, Caracas Walter J. Silva 1955-1957 Vice Consul, Maracaibo Robert C. Amerson 1955-1957 Press Attaché, USIS, Caracas Robert S. Dillon 1955-1957 Consular Officer, Puerto La Cruz John P. Owens 1956-1958 Consular Officer, Maracaibo John J. Helble 1957-1959 Consular Officer, Puerto La Cruz Oscar J. Olson, Jr. 1958-1962 Consular Officer/Staff Aide, Caracas Gerald J. Monroe 1959-1962 Visa Officer, Caracas Peter P. Lord 1961-1964 Political Officer, Caracas Patrick F. Morris 1961-1965 Director, USAID Mission, Caracas Carl F. Norden 1961-1965 Economic Counselor, Caracas 1 Theodore Wilkinson 1962-1964 Political Officer, Caracas Warren Zimmerman 1962-1964 Consular Officer, Caracas Richard G. Cushing 1962-1967 Public Affairs Officer, USIS, Caracas G. Clay Nettles 1963-1964 Economic/Commercial Officer, Caracas George F. Jones 1963-1966 Political Officer, Caracas Kathleen Turner 1964-1969 Childhood, Caracas John Todd Stewart 1965-1967 Consular Officer, Puerto La Cruz Maurica Bernbaum 1965-1969 Ambassador, Venezuela Gilbert R. Callaway 1966-1969 Student/Cultural Affairs Officer, USIS, Caracas Robert S. Pastorino 1967-1970 Junior Officer, Caracas Arthur H. Hughes 1968-1970 Consular Officer, Maracaibo Keith C. Smith 1970-1972 Political Officer, Caracas Suzanne Sekerak Butcher 1971-1973 Consular/Political Officer, Caracas Dale M. Povenmire 1972-1974 Labor Attaché, Caracas Faye G. Barnes 1973-1975 Spouse of US Embassy Officer, Caracas Harry W. Shlaudeman 1975-1976 Ambassador, Venezuela James C. Cason 1975-1977 Principal Officer, Maracaibo Robert B. Morley 1976-1979 Economic Officer, Caracas Kenneth N. Skoug 1979-1982 Commercial/Economic Officer, Caracas Lowell Fleischer 1982-1983 Consul General, Maracaibo Edward L. Lee II 1982-1985 Regional Security Officer, Panama City, Panama George W. Landau 1982-1985 Ambassador, Venezuela 2 Janey Dea Cole 1984-1987 International Exchange Officer, USIS, Caracas J. Phillip McLean 1984-1987 Director, Office of Andean Affairs, Washington, DC Jeffrey Davidow 1986-1988 Deputy Chief of Mission, Caracas Stephanie Smith Kinney 1986-1989 Administrative Officer/Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer, Caracas Otto J. Reich 1986-1989 Ambassador, Venezuela Alfred Joseph White 1987-1990 Economic Counselor, Caracas Kenneth N. Skoug 1988-1990 Deputy Chief of Mission, Caracas Michael A. Boorstein 1988-1991 Administrative Counselor, Caracas Stephen M. Chaplin 1990-1994 Counselor for Public Affairs, USIS, Caracas Robert B. Morley 1993-1995 Deputy Chief of Mission, Caracas Nicolas Robertson 1997-1999 Public Affairs Officer, Caracas Charles A. Ford 1999 Commercial Counselor, Caracas HENRY S. VILLARD Second Secretary Caracas (1936-1937) Henry S. Villard was born in New York on March 30, 1900. He obtained a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and did post-graduate work at Magdalen College and Oxford University. He served in Tehran, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas, Oslo, Libya, Senegal, and Mauritania. He also served in Washington, DC at the Persian desk, Near Eastern Affairs, Policy Planning, and was special assistant to the Secretary of State. Villard was a delegate to the United Nations and also a representative to Geneva. He was deputy commandant at the National War College. He was interviewed by Dimitri Villard, his son, on July 18, 1991. Q: In 1935 you were assigned to Rio de Janeiro and subsequently to Caracas, Venezuela. What were your positions and what did you do at that time? VILLARD: The assignment to Rio turned out to be an unfortunate one. I was sent there as consul 3 particularly to make a study of foreign exchange problems which were causing a good bit of difficulty at the time. Unfortunately my chief, the consul general, did not see fit to give me time to make such a study and assigned me instead to issuing passports, visas, performing notarial services, duties which any clerk could have done. It was the way he happened to run his office. I thought I was being assigned to the embassy, but such was not the case. I spent some time as consul, but I did not feel that I was serving any useful purpose for the Department or the embassy either. The embassy had put in a request that I be transferred to it, but the Department turned it down. I then decided that I would try to extricate myself from a situation that was not in accord with what I had expected. I felt that after four years of political work in the State Department I was qualified to do more than the jobs that I was doing. So through friends of mine in the Department I obtained a transfer to Caracas. Caracas turned out to be a very different post. Q: What were the concerns of the United States in that region at that time? VILLARD: The main concern was what would happen to Venezuela after the death of the dictator, General Gomez, who had ruled the country for twenty years with an iron hand. The Department expected that the streets would run with blood in a revolution after his death and they particularly wanted reports on the political situation. This was an extremely interesting period, but instead of riots and bloodshed, the transition proved to be an easy one, led by General Lopez Contreras, who was an astute general of the army and guided the country through a delicate and difficult period. The main reason for our concern was the presence of American oil companies, in particular Standard Oil of New Jersey, the leader among the group of large companies and smaller independent companies. But the oil interests were our main American concern. Q: How was the embassy in Venezuela run, Meredith Nicholson was the ambassador? VILLARD: Meredith Nicholson was another political appointee under whom it was my good fortune to serve. He was a distinguished author who wrote novels such as, The House of a Thousand Candles, and Port of Missing Men and other popular stories of the time. He had been very successful as an author. He was advanced in his years. When I arrived at the legation, he said to me "You are in charge of the work here. If you want me to sign a despatch you will find me on the porch with a whisky and soda in my hand admiring the beautiful scenery. Otherwise you are in charge." That suited me very well. Q: Would you say the Department was obsessed with Latin America during that period? VILLARD: Well, it is difficult for me to judge at just how the Department looked at Latin America since I was in the field and not in the Department, but my impression was that an enormous amount of attention was being paid to Pan American Airways. It was in the early days of expansion of that airline through Latin America and we were giving it all kinds of support. The Assistant Secretary for Latin America, Francis White, was promoting Latin America assiduously and it is quite possible there was an imbalance there, but not being in Washington at the time I would not know exactly. 4 JOHN F. MELBY Political/Military Officer Caracas (1939-1941) John F. Melby was born in Portland, Oregon in 1913. He did his graduate work at the University of Chicago in international relations. He took the Foreign Service Exam in 1937, attending the first class of the Foreign Service. He served overseas in Mexico, Venezuela, Moscow, and China. In 1953, he was dismissed from the Foreign Service because of an affair he had with Lillian Hellman, an alleged communist. He taught at the University of Pennsylvania and then at the University of Guelph, from which he retired in 1978. He was interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy in 1989. MELBY: After the Foreign Service school, I was then assigned to Caracas, Venezuela. And I was there for two years. Q: What type of work were you doing then? MELBY: Well, unfortunately the embassy in Caracas was a little bit over-staffed. There wasn't a great deal to do. The main problems involved the Venezuelan oil industry, with a great deal of American investment. Obviously, Dr. Corrigan, the ambassador, handled most of the negotiations involved there, along with Ted Scott, who was Counselor. As it happened, not long after I arrived, war broke out. This would be in 1939 -- I said I stayed in the Foreign Service School until early '38. It was early '39 -- some clown in the White House had a bright idea, with the outbreak of war, one Foreign Service officer should be assigned to keep track of and watch every German ship in the world. And it so happened there was one in Puerto Cabello, down on the coast of Venezuela. And I, as low man on the totem pole, drew that assignment to go to Puerto Cabello and sit there and look at that German ship! [Laughter] Now it was in the inner harbor in Puerto Cabello, so it had a great deal of difficulty getting out. In addition to that, the engine had been taken out of it! So it couldn't move, anyway. But it took six months to get that order countermanded from the White House. So for six months, I sat there. [Laughter] Q: Perfecting your Spanish, I assume? MELBY: Well, my Spanish was all right.