Central American Trip

Summary: Documentation of overseas travels made by Gallo while a member of Congress. Photos from each of these trips can be found in PHOTOGRAPHS.

Israeli Trips: Material relating to Gallo's two trips to Israel in August 1984 and November 1988. Includes a typescript of a 24-page travel journal kept by Gallo during his fact-finding trip to Israel from August 19 to 29, 1984.

Material from Gallo's 1988 New Jersey Community Relations Committee Mission to Israel includes: trip itineraries; a two-page document of quotations of statements made by Gallo on the trip; and a typescript of a letter detailing his trip, perhaps meant for mass mailing to constituents or colleagues. Also included are a few press clippings about the trip.

Central American Trip: Material from a trip Gallo and Representative Dan Burton (R-Indiana) made to the Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua in April of 1985. Includes two kits containing introductory information from the United States' Embassies in Guatemala and El Salvador for visitors to those countries. In addition, the Guatemala kit also contains a report on foreign economic trends and lengthy reports on Guatemala's July 1, 1984, Constituent Assembly election and an introduction to the political situation in the country, focusing on human rights. The El Salvador information kit also contains a one-page memo from the U.S. Public Affairs Officer detailing proper procedure for U.S. personnel to refuse on-camera interviews with local media.

Also present are: several printed documents from Nicaragua's Permanent Commission for Human Rights (El Comité Pinero de Derechos Humanos), some with English translations; a few documents relating to censorship of the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa by the Sandinista government, including a pamphlet from 1984 (entitled "Brief History Related to Temporary Close Outs, Censorship, Hostilities and Threats Against Those Working for La Prensa at Managua, Nicaragua"); photocopies of literature written and translated by James and Margaret Goff of the Antonio Valdivieso Ecumenical Center in Managua, Nicaragua, regarding political concerns of Nicaraguan Christians; and a January/February 1985 issue of Polos de Desarrollo [Poles of Development] magazine from Guatemala, published by the "Depto de Informaciòn y Divulgaciòn" [Department of Information and Dissemination].

Several business cards acquired by Gallo from diplomats and businessmen in the United States and Central America are also included.

Soviet Union Trip: Material relating to Gallo's trip to the Soviet Union in May 1986 to aid refusniks (Soviet Jews who were denied exit visas by the government and then also persecuted in various ways). Included is an itinerary with an additional sheet listing scheduled meetings with refusniks; an eight-page typescript entitled "Trip to U.S.S.R." which provides a day-by-day account of his trip with details about several refusniks; and several letters from Gallo to families and supporters of refusniks, upon his return from the U.S.S.R., advising them of the results of his trip, as well as some original letters written to Gallo from families and supporters of refusniks.

Also included are several news clippings about his trip, including a piece written by Gallo which appeared in the August 3, 1986, New York Times and a 1985 brochure from the National Conference on Soviet Jewry.

South African Trip: Material from a Congressional Delegation to South Africa led by Gallo and Representative William Gray (D-Virginia) from February to March 1990. Included are: an itinerary and list of important names; a typescript entitled "Address by the State President, Mr. F.W. De Klerk, DMS at the Opening of the Second Session of the Ninth Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, February 2, 1990"; a one-page document "Remarks by Rep. Dean Gallo . . . on the South African CODEL," made at the beginning of the trip; a joint statement by Gallo and Gray apparently made at the end of their trip but before returning to the United States; and a copy of Gallo's statements on South Africa from the Congressional Record for March 20, 1990.

Of particular interest is an eight-page typescript travel journal entitled "Gallo Diary" which provides a day-by-day account of his trip with a description of Gallo's understanding of and opinions on the South African political situation.