840.51 Frozen Credits/8762

The Ambassador in Bolivia (Boal) to the Secretary of State

No. 933

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s circular telegram of April 7, 1942, 9 p.m.,25 which requested monthly reports concerning local developments with regard to the enforcement of measures for the control of Axis nationals, and to the Embassy’s despatch No. 813 of November 5, 1942,25 which reviewed the situation up to the end of October.

As will be recalled, during September and October the continued political crisis prevented Government leaders from giving much attention to the possibilities of creating more effective controls, in spite of the interest evidenced on several occasions by Minister of Finance Dr. Joaquín Espada and Minister of Economy Alberto Crespo Gutiérrez in accomplishing something worthwhile along these lines. Furthermore, Dr. Espada’s illness during those two months, when he spent part of the time in Buenos Aires, prevented him from instituting any new policies in his Ministry. Dr. Espada returned to work shortly after the middle of November. During the final week of November the Cabinet resigned and Congress adjourned. With the recent naming of a new Cabinet, which includes both Dr. Espada and Crespo in their old posts, the political crisis has been eased, and it is now expected that the Ministers may be more willing to take up the problem of adopting new measures for the control of Axis commercial interests through foreign exchange control and the encouragement or actual setting up of nation wide competitive organizations.

Meanwhile, the Embassy has continued to rely on its own initiative in order to carry on economic warfare against Axis interests in Bolivia.

[Here follows a detailed description of offending business firms.]

A tentative proposal being drafted at this Embassy for the organization of an official Bolivian Corporation to assist in the elimination [Page 631] of large Proclaimed List firms and aid acceptable firms in the expansion of their operations is still in a formative stage.

Respectfully yours,

For the Ambassador:
Robert F. Woodward

Second Secretary of Embassy
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