810.34 Leasing/5: Telegram

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

83. Acting under the Department’s instruction of August 9, 6 p.m. I today presented the Minister for Foreign Affairs4 an aide-mémoire embodying the contents of the Department’s message. The Foreign Minister had been considering the matter as reported in the press and said that while it was to be expected that the proposal would be criticized in Europe he saw nothing in it to cause any apprehension in Latin America. He confessed that while he did not understand the reason for the proposal he saw no reason for distrusting the motive of the United States. He took occasion to express even more cordially than in any previous conversation the confidence of himself and of his Government in the sincere friendliness and good will of the United States toward the Latin American states.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs expressed deep concern based on current developments in Europe and Asia as to the peace of the world and reiterated several times his conviction that the hope of the future for this hemisphere depended upon its solidarity of aim and action. He stated that Venezuela would strongly advocate such solidarity at the Eighth Pan American Conference at Lima.5 Dr. Gil Borges mentioned Japanese immigration and economic expansion as one of the principal threats to Latin America but added that Japanese penetration was not now a serious problem in Venezuela.

The Foreign Minister was willing that I communicate to the Department without delay his reaction to the proposed resolution but said that he would also bring my aide-mémoire immediately to the attention of President Lopez Contreras.

Nicholson
  1. E. Gil Borges.
  2. See pp. 1 ff.