Diary Entry - 05/13/1987
Key Facts
President Reagan attends a National Security Council meeting to discuss the attack on neutral shipping by Iran.
President Reagan meets with the President of the Republic of Guatemala Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo.
Usual meeting & discussion of agenda. House voted for a 60 day extension of the debt ceiling. Now if Sen. will agree we have some leeway to seek a more permanent limit. N.S.C.—briefing dealt with my call to Kohl but mainly with the Persian gulf & Irans attacks on neutral shipping. Question is—will Kuwait sail it’s ships under American flag. If they will we will respond forcefully to any attacks on vessels flying our flag.
Desk time until briefing for Cereso visit (Pres. of Guatemala). He is 1st civilian Pres. in 19 yrs. Also 1st Pres. of Guatemala to visit U.S. since 1882. He arrived at 11:30 A.M. He & I had a one on one in Oval office. I spoke to him about need to stay aligned with Honduras & El Salvador at coming meeting of Central American Presidents. Then our teams joined us & we continued meeting—moving over to W.H. for lunch & discussing monetary aid & how we can help him install democracy after decades of military rule. We made our departure statements then I had a briefing about tomorrows set to I have with several magazine writers. That ended work day for me.
