File No. 383.516/71.
[Untitled]
Sir: Referring to our communication of the 9th inst., making protest against the action of the present de facto Government of Haiti in taking from the Banque Rationale de la République d’Haiti the function of Treasury of the Government, which the Bank has been performing in accordance with a contract existing between the Haitian Government and the Bank, we beg now to inform you that we have just been advised that the officials of the Haitian Government have ordered that customs duties be paid over to various merchants designated by the Haitian officials, instead of having these duties paid into the Bank as heretofore has been the procedure under the existing contract.
Our advices further indicate that in making this arrangement for the payment of duties to the merchants, the Haitian officials are ignoring all provision in respect of the interest and sinking-fund payments on the foreign debt, and only make reserve in respect of interior loans. All of this procedure is not only an absolute violation on the part of the Haitian Government of the contract existing between the Haitian Government and the Bank, but also a violation by the Government of its agreement with the holders of its foreign debt, most of which is held in Europe. This action is certain to result in serious complications in the final adjudication of Haiti’s already very much involved financial affairs.
We beg [etc.]