811.00 Defense (M) Brazil/263: Telegram
The Ambassador in Brazil (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
[Received 1:23 p.m.]
495. For the Under Secretary. Aranha agrees with me that the Brazilian Government should appoint a small but well-selected committee of officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance and the Bank of Brazil to administer the strategic materials agreement. However, he is reluctant to name the committee and to give it broad powers without the approval of Souza Costa.
I am told that the Ministry of Finance is responsible for the unnecessarily long delays in passing on our requests to add commodities to the agreement. As the situation is becoming worse I strongly recommend that you ask Souza Costa to telegraph Aranha requesting him to name the committee. It would also be helpful if Souza Costa would instruct his Ministry to despatch pending cases at once.