Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1942, The American Republics, Volume V

824.24/450

The Bolivian Chargé (Dorado) to the Secretary of State

Washington, February 24, 1942.

Excellency: In compliance with instructions which I have received from my Government, I have the honor to request of Your Excellency’s Government a favorable decision on the following matter:

In conformity with the Agreement of December 6, 1941,²⁹ inspired by the Declaration of Lima³⁰ and the need for attending to the defense of the Americas, the United States proposed to transfer to the Republic of Bolivia arms and munitions of war up to an approximate total value of $11,000,000, it having been decided that the quota for the first year should cover $3,000,000 in military material for the army of Bolivia.

The Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff of the Bolivian army, in accordance with the suggestions of the Chief of the American Army Air Mission, Colonel Edward H. Porter, and taking into account the situation through which the country is passing at present with relation to problems of continental defense and its own security, have considered the urgency of introducing changes in the application for armament, for which reason my Government requests that of Your Excellency to employ its valued recommendation before the proper authorities in order that the Bolivian request, which is given concrete form in the following points, may be decided on favorably:

1. That the credit of $3,000,000 established as the first quota be allotted in full for the acquisition of aviation training material.

2. That the application submitted to the War Department in Washington by the Bolivian Purchasing Commission be accepted in full, in view of the fact that no substitutions can be made for the material included in the said application, because of the special flying conditions in Bolivia, due to the altitude.

This petition is repeated, in view of the fact that the War Department at Washington has placed in its specifications the supplying of certain types of airplanes that could not be used in my country without serious danger to the life of the Bolivian and American pilots who expect to receive the training planes to open an active period of training.

The reasons forming the basis for the previous request were set forth to the Hon. Sumner Welles, Under Secretary of State, and the Hon. Laurence Duggan, Adviser on Political Relations of the exalted Department of which you are in charge, by General David Toro, ex-President of Bolivia and head of the Bolivian Military Purchasing Commission, and also by Colonel Oscar Moscoso, Military and Air Attaché of this Legation, during the interviews which the high officials mentioned were good enough to grant us a few days ago. Further, Colonel Moscoso is sending to Mr. Duggan today a Confidential Memorandum in which data on Bolivian aviation are given.³¹

My Government hopes that Your Excellency’s Government will receive this suggestion favorably, in view of the fact that Bolivia is the principal source of supply of tin and tungsten, “strategic minerals” which the United States of America, Great Britain and the other United Nations need for the production of arms.

The principal mining centers in Bolivia may be subjected to surprise attacks by air, which can easily be made by an enemy from airplane carriers which approach the coast. Three hours of flight would be enough to place the airplanes over Catavi, Oruro, Potosi and other important mining centers which produce not only tin and tungsten but zinc, lead, antimony, copper, etc. If the enemy should reach his objective, the supplying of Bolivian minerals to the United States of America would be entirely interrupted. Bolivia has no means of anti-aircraft defense, and it is urgent to attend to this common danger by hastening the organization of a good military aviation school.

Because of her strategic location within the geography of the continent, Bolivia can, in accordance with any joint plan for defense, be converted, with the aid of the United States of America, into a great future air base, the position of which in the center of the Continent, in the heights of the Altiplano and with easy access to the coasts, would represent a factor advantageous to American aviation.

Bolivia, furthermore, an inland country with few means of communication and consequently with her economic, political and social life unarticulated, today faces grave problems in connection with national unity, due to the lack of contacts between the various regions of her territory. To augment military and civil aviation is consequently a program on which action is urgently needed for any Government which attempts to carry out a constructive plan for the benefit of the whole.

In accordance with all the preceding, I respectfully request Your Excellency to recommend to the War Department that my Governmerit’s application be decided in harmony with the urgent needs of Bolivia, whose attitude of loyal friendship and frank support toward the United States of America is well known to Your Excellency.

I avail myself [etc.]

Carlos Dorado

29. The Lend-Lease Agreement between the United States and Bolivia; see Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. vi, section under Bolivia entitled “Negotiation of a Lend-Lease Agreement with Bolivia, signed December 6, 1941.”
30. Declaration of the Principles of the Solidarity of America, approved December 24, 1938, Report of the Delegation of the United States of America to the Eighth International Conference of American States, Lima, Peru, December 9–27, 1938 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1941), p. 189.
31. Not printed.