811.20 Defense(M)/12009: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Costa Rica ( Scotten )
153. Further reference your A–411, February 9 and cablegram 128, February 18, 4 p.m.19 You and Mr. Dewey are authorized to make the following amendments in the Memorandum of Understanding concerning the cinchona plantation to be established in Costa Rica:
Insert at the end of the penultimate sentence in paragraph 2 the following: “provided, however, that Defense Supplies Corporation shall leave upon the plantation at the time of its surrender pursuant to paragraph 1 hereof, so much of the equipment, machinery and tools then on such plantation as shall be necessary for the reasonable and proper operation of such plantation.”
Inasmuch as Defense Supplies Corporation is at liberty to surrender the lands granted it at any time within 25 years, it cannot guarantee to place the plantation in running order prior to such surrender. However, the above amendment makes it clear that necessary equipment on the plantation at the time of surrender will not be removed so as to prevent its continued reasonable operation.
Article 5 may be amended as follows: “Costa Rica reserves the right, however, to withhold from exportation sufficient quantities of antimalarial [Page 100] products to supply its normal antimalarial requirements, which are presently estimated at . . . . . ounces of quinine sulphate, USP20 XI, or its equivalent per annum.”
It is highly desirable that Defense Supplies Corporation should be privileged to import necessary tools and equipment for use on the plantation free of various import duties, taxes, etc. If you and Mr. Dewey believe that this can be most satisfactorily done through an exchange of notes, such notes should be exchanged. Otherwise it is felt here that the following amendment should be inserted as paragraph 7 of the Memorandum: “Defense Supplies Corporation shall be privileged to import into Costa Rica any and all equipment, machinery, tools, materials, or other property for direct use in connection with the cinchona plantation to be established by it, free of any and all import duties, taxes, fees or other charges levied because of such importation.”
The last paragraph should be renumbered as “8”.