U.S. Embassy Proposes Military Training Program for Suriname Before Independence

Low-profile officer education strategy aims to build influence with future armed forces leadership.

Date: March 25, 1975

Months before Suriname's independence, the U.S. Embassy in Paramaribo advocated for establishing a "modest" military training program for officers of the future Surinamese armed forces.

Details:

  • The cable, number PARAMA 00138, was sent from the U.S. Embassy in Paramaribo to the Secretary of State on March 25, 1975, to clarify proposals made in a Country Assistance Strategy Paper (CASP).
  • The Embassy clarified that its proposal for a Military Assistance Program – Training (MAP-T) was specifically for training individual Surinamese officers in the continental United States or at other U.S. military installations, and explicitly did not envisage any in-country U.S. military trainers.
  • The Embassy also acknowledged that its related proposal for a Foreign Military Sales – Credit (FMS-C) program was contrary to a new Department of Defense policy they had been unaware of.
  • It corrected a typographical error in the proposed FMS-C funding level, clarifying the amount was a very small $20,000.

Significance: This cable provides a crucial look at the very beginning of the U.S. security relationship with Suriname, just before independence. It shows that the U.S. strategy for engaging the new nation's military was based on the classic Cold War model of using International Military Education and Training (IMET) programs to build personal relationships with and influence the officer corps of a foreign military. The focus on out-of-country training for individual officers, rather than a large in-country mission, highlights a low-cost, low-profile approach to establishing a foothold with the future leaders of the Surinamese Armed Forces (SKM)—the same institution from which the sergeants who would launch the 1980 coup would emerge.

Source:

[1] U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Cable from Paramaribo, no. 0138, March 25, 1975. Canonical ID: 1975PARAMA00138b.

Link:

https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975PARAMA00138_b.html

Internal Link:

Date:
March 25, 1975
Categories:
Desi Bouterse, Diplomacy, Log, Matthew Smith, Military & Intel, The Suriname Archive
Tags:
Cable, Confidential, Military Training, Surinamese Independence, The, Us Suriname Relations
Boxes:
MW Zotero
Years:
1975
Persons:
META DATA
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