711.00111 Unlawful Shipments/73
The Acting Secretary of State to the Spanish Ambassador (De los Rios)
The Acting Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Excellency the Spanish Ambassador and acknowledges the receipt of the Ambassador’s note of November 10, 1936, enclosing a memorandum, [Page 559] in regard to the shipment of arms from the United States to Spain.95
The Acting Secretary of State informs the Ambassador that arms, ammunition and implements of war cannot be legally exported from this country until an export license for each proposed shipment has been obtained. No exporter has made application for a license to export arms to Spain since the beginning of the present civil war in that country. Allegations of illicit shipments of arms for which no license has been obtained have on several occasions been brought to the attention of the Department. Heretofore investigation of such allegations have failed to substantiate them. The cases of possible illicit exportation cited in the memorandum transmitted with the Ambassador’s note will be brought to the attention of the appropriate authorities of this Government and will be investigated with the same care as has been exercised in such investigations heretofore.
- Not printed. Statements were made regarding alleged shipments of war material for the Spanish rebel forces.↩