Statement by the President Upon Appointing Teodoro Moscoso of Puerto Rico as U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela.

I HAVE TODAY met with Mr. Teodoro Moscoso whom it has been my pleasure to name to the very important post of Ambassador to Venezuela. I expect him to depart for his new post within the next few days.

Ambassador Moscoso has a brilliant record as Administrator of the Economic Development Administration of Puerto Rico in carrying out what has come to be known throughout the world as "Operation Bootstrap," that dramatic effort through which economic diversification and development have brought a high degree of social benefits and equitable shares of economic returns to our fellow citizens in that island. I believe that Ambassador Moscoso's experience in this field will enhance his ability to treat sympathetically and knowingly the Government and people of Venezuela and to ensure maximum effectiveness for the common efforts to provide a better life for the people of Venezuela and the entire Western Hemisphere.

I am confident that Ambassador Moscoso will be warmly welcomed among our friends in Venezuela as my personal envoy and as a particularly appropriate representative of the people of the entire United States.