831.6363/74
The Minister in Venezuela (McGoodwin) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 5.]
Sir: I have the honor to invite the consideration of the Department to Article 65 paragraph 6 of the Petroleum Law (Law on Hydrocarbons and other Combustible Minerals) approved June 16, 1921, published in the Official Gazette of July 11, 1921, copies and translation of which were transmitted with my Despatch No. 2,425 of July 23, 1921, which reads as follows:
“Article 65,—The rights of the contractor lapse and the contract becomes inoperative …9 (6) If the contractor should take recourse to diplomatic channels in complaint or claim against the Government of the Republic, for any action relative to the execution of the contract.”
The same clause appeared as paragraph 7 of Article 65 of the Petroleum Law of June 30, 1920, translation of which was described as being transmitted with Mr. Wiley’s No. 2,176 of October 10, 1920, [Page 941] but the enclosure was a translation of the Law of Mines of June 26, 1920,10 which contains no such provisions as that quoted above.
In this connection it may be pertinent to refer to the Department’s No. 148 of August 23, 1915 (file No. 831.0442)11 instructing me to advise the Venezuelan Foreign Office that the Government of the United States
“presumes that the provisions of Article 10 of the law mentioned (concerning the rights of foreigners, published in the Official Gazette of July 21, 1915, No. 12,589, translation of which accompanied Mr. Benson’s No. 478 of July 22, 191512) will not be so interpreted by the authorities of Venezuela as to debar American citizens from appealing to their diplomatic representatives for advice and assistance in appropriate cases even before the exhaustion of their legal remedies in the courts of Venezuela, but in order that there may be no misunderstanding on this point, this Government desires to point out that it could not consent to any such application of the provisions; of this Article as would prevent the exercise of such rights by American citizens.”
Promptly upon receipt of the foregoing instruction on September 10, 1915, I informed the Government of Venezuela and during the six years that have intervened it has proved to be the rule rather than the exception for American citizens and the representatives of American development, financial and commercial companies and religious organizations to adjust their differences with the Government of Venezuela through the good offices of the Legation.
I have [etc.]