812.6363/6342
The Ambassador in Mexico (Daniels) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 6.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that with the final decision of the Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of the Expropriation Law of 1936 and the Expropriation Decree of March 18, 1938, the next step taken by the Government has been to proceed with the appraisal of the companies’ properties in accordance with judicial procedure.
The metropolitan press of December 5, 1939, prints a statement in quotation from the Attorney General of the Republic, Licenciado Genaro V. Vázquez, which I quote in translation as follows:
“The Attorney General of the Republic, Licenciado Genaro V. Vázquez, moved before the First Civil District Court of the Federal District, the initiation of judicial procedure for the appraisal of the properties expropriated from the petroleum companies, both those which have not been appraised by the Government, as well as those which have no fiscal value, and which were affected by virtue of the Decree of March 18, 1938.
“The mentioned court will cite the affected companies to be present at the proceedings, designating their expert appraisers who, with those of the Government, must submit their decisions within a designated period.
(At this point the Attorney General named the various petroleum companies which would be cited by the court. The list of the companies will be found in the attached Spanish text.)
[Page 713]“As the Supreme Court of the Nation has just rendered its decision in the amparo case which the petroleum companies entered because of the expropriation, denying to them the protection of the federal judiciary, the procedure of the appraisal, now begun, constitutes the next to the last phase of the expropriatory process, because once determined the amount of the indemnization, the Nation will fix the form of payment.”
From information previously received from various sources and particularly from a conversation which the Commercial Attaché had with Finance Minister Suárez, it seems quite definite that the Federal Government has already practically completed the appraisal of all company property. The Commercial Attaché recalls that Minister Suárez intimated that the properties belonging to American companies show an approximate value of ten million dollars, and those properties belonging to other nations of an equal value. No doubt, the judicial procedure now instituted by the Attorney General is for the purpose of compelling the companies through court action to agree legally to an appraisal of properties, or, if not, their denial would probably permit the Government legally to proceed on appraisals, and evaluations, made solely by the Government, or, in conjunction with other appraisal experts appointed by the Court.
Respectfully yours,