NICARAGUA COUNTRY READER TABLE OF CONTENTS William B. Cobb, Jr. 1945 Visa Officer, Managua Edward Warren Holmes 1946-1947 Political Officer, Managua Robert O. Blake 1947-1949 Commercial/Administrative/ Political Officer, Managua Robert C. Brewster 1949-1951 Political Officer, Managua Dorothy Jester 1954-1956 Economic Officer, Managua Fred A. Coffey, Jr. 1957-1959 USIS, Managua Frederic L. Chapin 1959-1961 Political/Labor Officer, Managua Robert E. Service 1961-1963 Economic Officer, Managua Richard H. Melton 1963-1965 Labor Officer, Managua James B. Engle 1963-1967 Deputy Chief of Mission, Managua Lewis M. White 1964-1969 Economic Officer, Managua A. Lincoln Gordon 1966-1967 Assistant Secretary for Latin America, Washington, DC Robert E. White 1970-1972 Deputy Chief of Mission, Managua James Richard Cheek 1971-1974 Political Counselor, Managua Ronald D. Godard 1973-1975 Political Officer, Managua Aaron Benjamin 1974-1978 Program Officer, USAID, Managua Charles Anthony Gillespie, Jr. 1976-1978 USAID, Managua 1978 Nicaragua Task Force, Managua David Jickling 1977-1978 USAID, Nicaragua Bernard E. Dupuis 1978-1979 Program Officer, USAID, Managua 1 Lawrence E. Harrison 1979-1981 Program Officer, USAID, Managua Lawrence A. Pezzullo 1979-1981 Ambassador John A. Bushnell 1977-1982 Deputy Assistant Secretary, ARA, Washington, DC Marcia Bernbaum 1980 USAID, Managua Stephen Bosworth 1981-1983 Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Western Hemisphere Affairs, Washington, DC Gilbert R. Callaway 1982-1984 Counselor for Public Affairs, Managua Anthony Quainton 1982-1984 Ambassador Sally Grooms Cowal 1983-1985 Deputy Political Counselor to American UN Ambassador, New York Robert W. Duemling 1984-1986 Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office, Washington, DC Richard Melton 1985-1988 Office of Central American Affairs, Director, Washington, D.C. Richard T. McCormack 1985-1989 US Ambassador to Organization of American States, Washington, DC Clayton E. McManaway, Jr. 1987-1989 Nicaragua Program, Washington, DC Mary Annette White 1987-1989 Consular/Political Officer, Managua Richard H. Melton 1988 Ambassador 1988-1989 Mexico, Caribbean, and Regional Economic Affairs, Assistant Secretary, Washington, DC John P. Leonard 1988-1990 Deputy chief of Mission/Chargé d’affaires, Managua Edmund McWilliams 1989-1992 Political Counselor/Deputy Chief of Mission, Managua Stanley Zuckerman 1989-1992 USIA Director of Latin American Affairs, 2 Washington, DC Harry W. Shlaudeman 1990-1991 Ambassador Stedman Howard 1990-1992 Public Affairs Officer, USIS, Managua Ronald D. Godard 1991-1993 Deputy Chief of Mission, Managua Theresa A. Loar 1992-1993 Nicaragua Desk Officer, Washington, DC Paul Trivelli 1992-1995 Economic Counselor, Managua Frederick A. Becker 1994-1998 Deputy Chief of Mission, Managua Paul Trivelli 2005-2008 Ambassador, Nicaragua WILLIAM B. COBB, JR. Visa Officer Managua (1945) William B. Cobb was born in North Carolina in 1923. He received a B.A. from the University of North Carolina and an M.S. from George Washington University. His postings abroad included Managua, Havana, Manila, La Paz, Martinique, Stockholm, and Mexico City. Mr. Cobb was interviewed by Horace G. Torbert in 1990. COBB: I arrived in Managua two days later, having taken the up and down trip in a DC-3 or 4. I arrived at the airport in Managua and took a taxi into town. I had been told in the Department that I would probably go to the Grand Hotel, so I went to the Grand Hotel and asked if there was a reservation for me. The answer being no, I made one, got my room and asked where the embassy was? They said it was about three blocks down the street so I walked three blocks down the street to the embassy. I walked in and I said, "I'm the new vice consul". There were no marine guards in those days. They did not know who I was. I walked into the office of Maurie Bernbaum, who was the second secretary, chancellor of the embassy, and Maurie said, "What are you doing here?" I said I have been assigned here to replace Dave Ray. He said that he knew nothing about it, where is so-and-so? "I got a telegram saying he was coming but I did not get one saying you were coming." I said, "I'm sorry, but here I am. What shall I do?" He said, "In the first place, go to the Grand Hotel and get yourself a room." I said I had done that. "Then you come back to the office and I will tell you what to do. All you have to do is to replace Dave Ray as the vice consul in charge of the visa section. Dave has been declared persona non grata and left the country last week at the request of Mr. Somoza." He had been known to agree with a visa applicant that Somoza was a son-of-a-bitch. The visa applicant went back and told the members of his club that everybody in the embassy did 3 not think that Somoza was perfect, that at least there was a vice consul who thought he was a son-of-a-bitch. Somoza heard about it within twenty-four hours and came down to the chancery and told Ambassador Fletcher Warren he wanted Ray out of there immediately as being disloyal. Fletcher Warren did not have much choice except to get him out. So that is how the vacancy had occurred and I was assigned to it. I was shown my office, which was not an office, just a place in the interior patio and was told that visa applicants would come to me and I would say to them, in Spanish, "Jura usted que lo que ha declarado en su solicitud es la verdad." I asked what that meant. It means, "Do you swear you have told the truth in your application?". I said "I can certainly do that". So that is how my Foreign Service career began. I stayed in Nicaragua only two weeks. Q: Only two weeks! COBB: Only two weeks. I fell and broke a bone in my left leg just above the ankle. I did not know it was a break for two days and hobbled to and from the office on a stick, but realized I could not walk on the foot and so Maurie Bernbaum called Dr. Fuentes, who was the local dentist and asked him to x-ray it. So I went to the dentist's office; the dentist put his x-ray machine down over my ankle and took it a picture of it. Q: There was no shielding I suppose? COBB: Oh no. I think it was the only x-ray in town that worked, that's why we used it. He reported back that I had a broken leg and that I ought to have attention. There was no plaster of Paris in the country at the time so they could not set it. Bernbaum wisely sent this information to the Department of State which said, "Send him back home and we will put him in a cast when he gets back". So I left Managua on about the 16th of October 1945, flew back to Washington, landed at National Airport, called the office of Harry Havens, who was in charge of the medical branch and told him I was reporting in as according to the orders I had received. He said, "Take a taxi out to the Navy hospital. I will arrange to have you admitted." Which I did. Q: This was out in Bethesda? COBB: Yes it was. I took a taxi out to the naval hospital and when I got there, I went in the emergency entrance and there was a stretcher, and a young Navy lieutenant said in a carefully modulated voice, "Do-you-speak-English?" I said, "Yes, what do you think I speak?" He said, "We were told that the vice consul from Nicaragua was coming. We did not know if he spoke English or not." I was in the naval hospital where they set the bone and took care of it. I had a complete recovery. Then I had to negotiate with the Department my status of medical leave. I had not been in the Department long enough to acquire any medical leave, so I was put on leave without pay during the time I was in the naval hospital. In those days the charge was $5 a day for full coverage for Foreign Service officers. 4 EDWARD WARREN HOLMES Consular/Political Officer Managua (1946-1947) Edward Warren Holmes was born in 1923 in Beverly, Massachusetts. He received a bachelor's degree from Brown University in 1945, and a master's degree in international law from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1946. Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 1946, Mr. Holmes was a personal assistant to Henry Merit Wriston. His career in the Foreign Service included positions in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Israel, South Africa, Ethiopia, Malawi, Ghana, and Washington, DC. Mr. Holmes retired from the Foreign Service in 1980. He was interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy in 1993. HOLMES: I went to Managua, Nicaragua. Q: Where you served for what, about a year, year and a half? HOLMES: A little over a year, a year and a half, I think. Q: What were you doing in Managua? HOLMES: Let's see. First post. Trying to learn what the Foreign Service was all about. I had a wonderful boss, Ambassador Fletcher Warren. Q: One of the major figures. HOLMES: Who was a wonderful first boss, I must say. I should mention that amongst the lectures that Perry Jester gave us was one word of advice to all the young men in the course (I don't think there were any women in the course in those days), that if any of us had any thoughts of getting married and were planning to put it off, don't put it off.