Today the Department of State published the Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela chapters in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume XVI, South America. This volume is part of a Foreign Relations subseries that documents the foreign policy decision making of the administration of President Ronald Reagan.
The Ecuador chapter documents the Reagan administration’s efforts to bolster democracy and increase cooperation on narcotics, terrorism, and economic stabilization. The Paraguay chapter documents the evolution of U.S. policy toward the Alfredo Stroessner government as it resisted democratization, as well as the Reagan administration’s “3-Ds” focus on drugs, democracy, derechos humanos (human rights). The chapter on Uruguay documents the Reagan administration’s support for democratization in the country, as well as topics such as bilateral trade negotiations, U.S. advocacy for structural economic reforms, and the reintegration of the Uruguayan military into civilian society. The chapter on Venezuela documents the Reagan administration’s development of U.S.-Venezuelan arms sales policies, as well as the state visits of Presidents Luis Herrera Campins and Jaime Lusinchi to the United States, and Venezuela’s role as a regional interlocutor.
The remaining chapters in this volume will be released as they are cleared for publication.
This volume was compiled and edited by Nathaniel Smith. The volume and this press release are available on the Office of the Historian website. For further information, contact history@state.gov. Follow us on X @HistoryAtState.