confronted either with a mechanical contrivance or a pen or
pencil taking down what is being said.

As a consequence, what I have done is to take as
extensive notes as possible as soon after leaving the
presence of the individual as possible. Then, as soon as I
have gotten to my typewriter, I have recorded more or less
in full what has been said. Therefore, in putting down a
conversation, I have never used the first person singular,
as if the person involved were speaking directly, but
rather have used the third person, thus clearly recognizing
that what I have written is not a direct quotation. Also,
both conversations and correspondence are in the present
tense, since they use what the presidents said or wrote at
the time indicated in each interview or letter.

Both the conversations and the correspondence have been
conducted in Spanish. The translations are my own.

As is always the case with authors, I owe many debts to
others. First of all, of course, I am indebted to those
people who are dealt with in this volume, who have freely
given me their time and information. I am also very
appreciative of the continuing interest of Dr. James Sabin
in this volume and the series in general. I wish to thank
Krystyna Budd and Andrea Morgan, who edited the present
book, and other people at the Greenwood Publishing Group
who have seen this volume through to publication. Also, I
owe special gratitude to Eldon Parker, who prepared the
camera-ready copy for this volume, as he did for the
previous one in the series.

As is ever the case, I owe thanks to my wife Joan, for
her tolerance in bearing with me while I wrote this book.
Needless to say, without her support the book would never
have been written.

-x-