824.50/148
The Under Secretary of State (Welles) to the Ambassador in Bolivia (Boal)
Dear Pierre: Now that the conversations with the Bolivian Ministers of Finance and National Economy are drawing to a close, I am sending you for delivery to Dr. Anze Matienzo an acknowledgment of his letter of July 15, 1942.79 I expect that by the time this letter reaches you, you will have received information from the Department by telegraph concerning the final results of the discussions, so that the enclosed reply to the Minister of Foreign Affairs79 will by then be appropriate.
In order to assist the two Ministers as much as possible in the presentation in La Paz of the results of their discussions, we are endeavoring to include in the exchange of notes at the end of the discussions reference to all of the recent cooperative arrangements which have been worked out both in La Paz and in Washington. I believe these arrangements have been sufficient to permit an impressive presentation to the Bolivian public.
[Page 603]Consistent with your suggestion, the Bolivian Ministers are being informed that the Government of the United States will at the appropriate time give every consideration to the practicability, under conditions then existing, of extending credits (up to $15,000,000) for the second stage of the long-term program recommended by the Economic Mission. The Ministers are being informed, however, that before such action is taken, completion of the first stage of the program should be assured. The Economic Mission has estimated that the second stage of the long-term program should comprise approximately $20,000,000 in expenditures.
It has not been considered practical to increase at this time the specific commitments of Export-Import Bank credits which were promised at Rio de Janeiro,80 since the scarcity of materials necessary for carrying out the developments is so serious that there is little prospect of being able to obtain such materials in the predictable future for projects beyond those included in the first stage of the program. The developments in the first stage of the program appear, in any event, to be sufficiently ample to make a very definite contribution to development of the Bolivian national economy. I believe, moreover, that the statements made to the two Ministers in the note which the Secretary of State will address to the Minister of Finance at the end of his visit in Washington will provide the Ministers with adequate material for favorable publicity.
With very best wishes [etc.]