811.114 Mexico/375
The Ambassador in Mexico (Daniels) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 3.]
Sir: With reference to my despatch number 2808 of August 15, 1935,56 I have the honor to report that Mr. Sierra of the Foreign Office telephoned today to say that they had just received a report from the Ministry of Finance in the matter of the liquor suspected of being destined for Cozumel Island for trans-shipment to the United States.
According to this report, the Minister of Finance had ordered a study of Mexican laws and regulations to determine to what extent Mexico could comply with our suggestion, but unfortunately the Minister was without authority to impose the tax as had been done in Belize; furthermore, his authority to act was limited by the fact that Cozumel is a free zone.
Mr. Sierra said that, while in this instance it was unfortunately impossible to act, the Mexican Government was disposed to cooperate in the prevention of this illicit traffic. He suggested that the Embassy [Page 428] obtain from the American authorities full details as to the methods used in these cases, together with any suggestions that we might see fit to make based on our own experience in these matters, with a view to determining the most effective manner in which the Mexican Government could cooperate. Mr. Sierra suggested tentatively that an exchange of notes between the two Governments might serve the purpose.
I reminded Mr. Sierra that the problem of preventing the use of Mexican territory as a base for the smuggling of alcohol into the United States had been presented in detail in note number 1108 of May 3, 1935, under instructions from Washington (see Department’s instruction number 722 of April 27, 1935); that it was my understanding that the matter had been considered in the Cabinet; and that as yet no reply had been received to our communication other than that the matter was under consideration by the Treasury authorities. I added that I believed the smuggling operation in question was typical of the situation for the curbing of which we had requested cooperation from the Mexican authorities.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩