211.31/32

The Minister in Venezuela ( Cook ) to the Secretary of State

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.]

Willis C. Cook
[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 )

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.]

Willis C. Cook