Rosalynn Takes a Message Home

Wherever she went, she listened carefully--and urged heads of state and their minions to express themselves freely. "You can be blunt," she would say. "Go ahead, that's what I'm here for." Throughout her 13-day tour of Latin America and the Caribbean, Rosalynn Carter managed to establish a frank rapport with her hosts. She achieved her goal of convincing top leaders that President Carter wants to improve long-neglected relations with Latin nations.

Like leaders of other governments along the tour, Venezuela's President Carlos Andres Perez said he was "pleasantly surprised" by the "extraordinary woman." Brazilian officials gave their poised and well-briefed visitor high marks for her meetings with President Ernesto Geisel. Said one diplomat: "This lady knows what she's talking about. She asks the right questions and has the right answers. There's no fooling around." Speaking her mind, the First Lady re-emphasized to Geisel her husband's concern about nuclear proliferation. The Brazilians resent Carter's opposition to their plans to buy comprehensive nuclear fuel facilities abroad.

Rosalynn clearly established the point that her husband is determined to make the encouragement of human rights a key part of his foreign policy despite the danger of exacerbating relations with some countries. In Recife, Brazil, Rosalynn met with two American missionaries--the Rev. Lawrence Rosebaugh, 42, a Roman Catholic priest, and Thomas Tapuano, 24, a Mennonite worker--who had been jailed on trumped-up charges and mistreated for four days. "I have listened to their experience," she said later, "and I sympathize with them." She added, as she had at all her stops, "I have a personal message to take back to Jimmy."

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