824.6363 ST 2/175
The American Delegate to the Chaco Peace Conference (Braden) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 30.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s special instruction of September 11, 193746 enclosing a memorandum dated September 7, 1937 regarding the difficulties between the Bolivian government and the Standard Oil Company of Bolivia.
In a conversation with Sr. David Alvéstegui, Bolivian delegate to the Chaco Peace Conference, on September 21, 1937, he informed me that although he was not intimately informed on the state of oil negotiations between Bolivia and Argentina, he knew that the head of the Y. P. F. Boliviano has made several trips to Buenos Aires recently and that he has held active conversations with officials of the Y. P. F. Argentina.
It is Sr. Alvéstegui’s understanding that under the proposed agreement Bolivian oil will not be purchased by the Argentine government or by the Y. P. F. but will be permitted to enter Argentina “on the most favorable basis possible,” and he understands thereby that it will compete equally with Peruvian oil imported under the Argentine-Peruvian modus vivendi of February 1937. He does not know how the oil will be marketed. I was informed that the final agreement is being held in abeyance until the arrival here next month of Sr. Finot, newly appointed Bolivian Minister to the Argentine, who having initiated the whole business while serving as Foreign Minister wishes to conclude the negotiations himself.
Sr. Alvéstegui tells me he has heard nothing from Bolivia to indicate that a commission of reputable Bolivian citizens might be appointed to study the question. The failure of Sr. Baldivieso to accept the Ministry for Foreign Affairs may explain the silence.
Neither Ambassador Alvéstegui nor Ambassador Rodrigues Alves47 have yet received any information respecting the activities of the Brazilian commission sent to Bolivia.
Respectfully yours,