821.24/569: Telegram
The Chargé in Colombia ( Warren ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:26 p.m.]
1079. Department’s telegram 764, June 18.13 In response to proposals submitted through Colombian Embassy in Washington and American Embassy in Bogotá as result of phone conversation between the Board of Economic Warfare, Washington, and Bogotá, the National Superintendency of Importations has agreed to the extension until September 1 of general licenses and other provisions for licensing applications not covered by Import Recommendations in accordance with Current Control Bulletin No. 80.14 The Superintendency requests that certificates of necessity issued up to June 30 be honored in Washington until September 1.
Acceptance of the above proposal was made by the Superintendency after consultation with the President and Cabinet members and is considered as a temporary measure until the Decentralization Plan may become fully operative. The Colombian Government emphasizes that it has approved the Decentralization Plan and desires to maintain and carry out this plan in its entirety.
In view of the alleviation which this extension of licensing without import recommendations will have on provision of cargo for shipment to Colombia, it is requested that the Department clarify to the Embassy immediately whether the accumulated Import Recommendations now totaling approximately 8,000 may not be handled in an orderly fashion at the rate of 150 or 200 a day which is believed to be the maximum that the Superintendency and Embassy organizations in conjunction are now equipped to despatch. “Immediate” distribution of pending important recommendations as requested in Department’s telegram 764 of June 18 would require rubber stamping without screening.
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