211.31/32
The Minister in Venezuela (Cook) to the Secretary of
State
Caracas, July 18,
1923.
[Received August 1.]
No. 417
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatch
No. 381 of June 11th last, in reply to the Department’s instruction No.
802 of May 29, 1923 (File No. 211.31/30), concerning the Instrument of
Ratification by the Venezuelan Government of the Extradition Treaty
between the United States and Venezuela and additional article
thereto.
After repeated conversations at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and
after the receipt by the Legation of a Memorandum, a copy and
translation of which is enclosed herewith, I sent the Minister for
Foreign Affairs a note on June 20th last, a copy of which is also
enclosed. No reply has as yet been received to this communication.
I have [etc.]
[Page 1256]
[Enclosure
1—Translation]
The Venezuelan Ministry of
Foreign Affairs to the American
Legation
Memorandum
The ratification of the Extradition Treaty with the United States has
come in English and Spanish, and the American Legation expresses the
desire that the said instrument of Ratification, on the part of
Venezuela, be made in the same manner.
The Law ratifying the said Treaty includes the text of it only in
Spanish, which is the legal language of Venezuela, and if the
English text were introduced into it the law would [have to] be
changed.
The practice of Venezuela has been to send the text of the
ratification in Spanish.
However, in order to respond to the desires above mentioned, the
English text of the Treaty could be copied below the Law ratifying
it, with an appropriate certificate as to its correctness from the
Minister for Foreign Affairs.
certificate
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the United States of
Venezuela, the undersigned, certifies that the text in English
of the Extradition Treaty between Venezuela and the United
States of America, as embodied in the said Treaty, is the
following:
The Minister
addition to the act of
exchange
It is hereby set forth that below the Instrument by which
Venezuela ratifies the Extradition Treaty to which the present
Act refers, a copy of the English text of the said Treaty was
inserted, the correctness of which was duly certified to by the
Minister for Foreign Affairs.
[Enclosure 2]
The American Minister (Cook) to the Venezuelan Minister for Foreign
Affairs (Itriago
Chacín)
Caracas, June 20,
1923.
No. 222
Excellency: I have the honor to inform Your
Excellency that my Government has returned to me the Instrument of
Ratification by Venezuela of the Extradition Treaty between the
United States and Venezuela and additional Article thereto, with
instructions to
[Page 1257]
obtain
in substitution therefor, an Instrument of Ratification by Venezuela
incorporating the English as well as the Spanish text.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The original Extradition Treaty and additional article thereto which
was signed by the representatives of Venezuela and the United
States, respectively, was in both the Spanish and English languages,
therefore the Instrument of Ratification which you present my
Government should include both texts. Otherwise, the ratification
would not be complete, as the English text is equally a part of the
Treaty with the Spanish.
I therefore have the honor to request Your Excellency to be so kind
as to furnish me with an Instrument of Ratification in substitution
of the one which has already been returned to your Ministry, in
which there is incorporated the English as well as the Spanish
text.
Accept [etc.]
