837.613/34: Airgram

The Ambassador in Cuba (Braden) to the Secretary of State

A–1078. Due to late arrival and increase in quantity of peanut seed shipped to Cuban Ministry of Agriculture in April, a large portion remains unplanted. Four million pounds of seed were delivered to Ministry, (only 3 million originally requested) of which about 1.25 million has been delivered to planters. Ministry expects to use possibly 0.5 million for fall planting, leaving more than 2 million pounds unused in 1943.

Storage until 1944 would involve considerable expense, require valuable storage space, necessitate frequent thorough fumigation, and involve some loss due to insect damage and reduced germination. Ministry, therefore, requests authorization to crush remainder for [Page 228] oil.51 If crushed in June or July, this would increase Cuban crushing capacity since crushers are now idle until August.

Mr. Sam Herman (BEW) expects to return to Washington by end of this week and will discuss matter further.

Braden
  1. The Secretary of State in airgram A–1556 of June 17, expressed “regrets that Cuba has now found it impossible to plant all the peanuts they requested for seed” and stated that the Department had “no objection” to crushing the unused balance though “it must be understood that a like amount of edible oil will be deducted from the U.S. allocation to Cuba.” (837.613/37)