740.00112A European War 1939/29899: Telegram
The Chargé in Bolivia (Woodward) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:40 p.m.]
833. For Meltzer and Tonnenwald [Tannenwald]39 from Ramsey. Embassy’s 832, May 1. The Ambassador was informed last evening by the Foreign Minister that the decree transmitted in the telegram under reference will serve as the basis for a proposed exchange of notes between the Bolivian Government and the Department of State while the Foreign Minister is in Washington. As I understand it the Bolivian Government will take the formal initiative to ascertain through the proposed exchange of notes what financial assistance if any the United States is prepared to offer in connection with the proposed replacement of Proclaimed List firms in Bolivia.
In my opinion the decree furnishes no hopeful basis from which Bolivia’s intentions with respect to an effective replacement program may be deduced. In the first place the Board created is controlled by the Government and more specifically by officials whose recent actions indicate a lack of sympathy in an effective replacement program. This aspect will be explained fully in a despatch being prepared for the May 4 pouch. In the second place a literal interpretation of the decree renders the Board impotent to study or plan an effective program. The decree of June 20, 1941 imposes certain controls on international commerce. The decree of December 10, 1941 freezes the funds of Japanese individuals and firms in bank accounts and securities, imposes controls over postal telegraphic and radio telegraphic communications and authorizes military surveillance of mining enterprises, railroads, air ports, radio telegraphic stations, oil wells, factories, et cetera. The decree of July 15, 1942 prohibits Axis nationals from transferring property except with the approval of Superintendent of Banks. The Board’s functions, strictly speaking, are [Page 596] limited to an implementation of these decrees. The decree under reference conspicuously omits assigning the Board any functions with respect to the supreme decrees of December 11 and December 12, 1941 which have [sic] German and Italian nationals and which contain the most restrictive controls which Bolivia has thus far imposed on inimical interests. [Ramsey.]
- Bernard D. Meltzer and Theodore Tannenwald were officials of the Department’s Foreign Funds Control Division.↩