825.6374/1115: Telegram

The Ambassador in Chile (Culbertson) to the Secretary of State

47. Referring to my telegram No. 46, March 16, 6 p.m. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has not yet completed memorandum. Press this morning reflects a determination of the Government to treat its action as a fait accompli and to insist upon its position. Indications are that memorandum will contribute nothing to solution and that it will be too long to telegraph. I believe therefore that action need not be delayed awaiting the memorandum which will probably be primarily a defense of the Government’s action and at most a compromise which takes for its starting point the assumption that the Government was justified in diverting the service of the 60 peso charge from the trustees to the Chilean Treasury.

Culbertson