-51-

October 10-October 22 (approximate)

Karamesines and one or two others went with Kissinger to speak with the President, after a larger meeting. Karamesines believed this meeting took place between October 10 and 24. (Karamesines testimony, p. 89) According to Karamesines, the "President went out of his way to impress all of those there with his conviction that it was absolutely essential that the election of Mr. Allende to the presidency be thwarted."* As they were leaving the Oval Office, the President took Karamesines aside to reiterate the message. (Karamesines testimony, p. 8)

October 19

Station cabled Headquarters early in the morning, advising that the tear gas had been passed and outlining the Valenzuela coup plan, beginning with the kidnap of Schneider. In testimony before the Committee, Karamesines indicated he certainly would have reported the Valenzuela plan to Kissinger "very promptly, if for no other reason than that we didn't have all that much promising news to report to the White House...." (Karamesines testimony, p. 72)

And as I say, if for no other reason we would have wanted to get this kind of hopeful report to the White House as soon as possible, and it would be my best estimate now that that is precisely what we did. (p. 72)

In the afternoon of the 19th, Karamesines met with General Haig for an hour at the White House. (Karamesines calendar) By then, Karamesines would have had in hand the cable outlining the Valenzuela

*If the meeting with the President occurred after October 15, that would lend credence to the testimony of CIA officials that they were not directed to end their coup efforts in the October 15 meeting. Unfortunately, the Committee has not had access to the daily calendars of President Nixon or Secretary Kissinger, which might pinpoint the date of the President's conversation with Karamesines. Those calendars, along with other White House documents bearing on Track II, have been subpoenaed.

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