837.24/1438: Telegram
The Ambassador in Cuba (Braden) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 4—7:04 a.m.]
379. In further reference Department’s airgram A–1337 of May 17, 1943, and telegram 608 of May 21, 1943,71 the Embassy has just received [Page 198] note from Cuban Government expressing approval of Decentralization Plan with following reservations.
- “1. The Republic of Cuba reserves the right to handle, through its Embassy in Washington and through the Department of State of the Government of the United States, any matter of an official character concerning articles or materials to be imported into this country, as well as any other matter which, although not official should, in the opinion of the Government, be handled through this channel.
- It is explicitly set forth that the reservation of this right does not imply the impossibility of the agency charged with the issuance of the appropriate documents, namely, the Import and Export Agency, maintaining informal communication with the Embassy of the United States of America in this capital.
- 2. The Republic of Cuba likewise reserves the right to determine the essentiality and the end use to which the articles or materials within the plan are to be applied, and it also reserves the right to indicate the amounts which, in its opinion, the consignee and consumers thereof need, without offering any objections whatsoever to the proceedings designed to analyze the import recommendations in the light of the blacklists, confidential lists, et cetera.
- 3. The Republic of Cuba reserves the right that the agency which handles these matters, namely, the Import and Export Agency, should be the one directly to issue the documents, without prejudice to the right which the Mission or any other agency or office of the Government of the United States of America may have to express in principle any opinion with regard to the need or desirability of the importation.
- 4. The Republic of Cuba reserves the right to establish that the essential needs of the Government be classified under letter “A” of the essentiality category and under the letter “A” of the shipping category, so stating in the official documents.
- 5. The Republic of Cuba reserves the right to accept or not, according to the circumstances the charging against quotas assigned to it and to the available shipping space, the needs of the projects originating in the Board of Economic Warfare of the Government of the U.S. of America, or those which are requested by the petroleum companies which are producing for the war program of the United Nations or the mining companies which hold serial numbers of the War Production Board of the Government of the U.S. of America.
- 6. Inasmuch as Decentralization Plan “A” should have begun to function in respect of Cuba on June 1, 1943, the Cuban Government believes it necessary for the normal development of its imports and its national economy, that the Certificates of Necessity, Certificates of Endorsement, Certificates of Essentiality and Priority Recommendations issued by the Cuban Agency of Imports and Exports prior to June 1, 1943, be valid and effective and accepted by the offices of the Government of the U.S. of America until July 15, 1943.
- 7. The Government of Cuba expresses the vehement desire that by exchanges of impression with the officers of that Embassy, the general agent of Imports and Exports or the assistant agent and an official of the Bureau of Commerce of this Ministry (Ministry of State) a prompt agreement be reached for the application of the rules [Page 199] of a purely administrative nature included within the reservations 2 and 3 formulated by the Government of Cuba in this note.”
The Embassy has thoroughly discussed the Government’s note and reservations informally with the agent and assistant agent of the Import and Export Agency and the Embassy considers that these reservations do not constitute an insurmountable barrier against the satisfactory operation of the Decentralization Plan in its basic essentials. With reference to the suggestion of the Cuban Government that Certificates of Necessity issued prior to June 1 be accepted as valid until July 15, 1943, the Embassy understands that this is already acceptable.
Inasmuch as the Embassy understands that the Cuban Government will issue the appropriate decree as soon as the Embassy expresses our Government’s conformity with the Cuban Government’s conditional acceptance of the plan the Embassy will appreciate receiving by telegraph the Department’s instructions so that no further delay may be encountered.
- Neither printed.↩