740.00112A European War, 1939/29862: Airgram

The Minister in the Dominican Republic ( Warren ) to the Secretary of State

A–248. Department’s instruction no. 310, January 27, 1943. After receipt of above-mentioned instruction, informal conversations were held with Dominican Government officials regarding possible action with regard to vesting or forced sale of enemy interests. On February 19, an informal memorandum was given to the Secretary of State for the Presidency,6 pointing out the possibilities of vesting or forced sale of enemy enterprises on the part of the Dominican Government. No written answer has as yet been received to the memorandum, although conversations have taken place.7

Responsible government officials give their objections to vesting or forced sale, particularly as applying to the Compañía Comercial, as follows:

The Dominican Government has not had experience in vesting, preferring instead to use the procedure of intervention. It was pointed out that, in actual practice, the interventor exercises the same authority and control, with the exception of the power to dispose of the enterprise, that he would have if the property were vested in him or in the Government. The Dominican Government does not wish to assume ownership of a firm now on the Proclaimed List and states [Page 283] that there are no private parties with available capital who are interested in purchase of the Nottebohm–Grossart interests. They therefore believe that the intervention procedure offers all the advantages of vesting and is in addition a measure with which they are well acquainted. Only 680 of the 1500 shares in the Cía. Comercial are held by German interests and the Dominican Government believes that the present control affecting the entire company is preferable to one affecting only a minority of the shares.

Rafael Lembcke (who is a National Deputy) has stated that Grossart would be glad to relinquish his position as president of the company and it is probable that the former would assume that place. Since active management is under the supervision of interventor, however, Grossart’s replacement is considered by Dominican authorities as necessary only if vesting or forced sale should take place. There are considerations of local politics, neither anti-American nor pro-Nazi, that require careful handling of this particular situation.

Warren
  1. Rafael Paino Pichardo.
  2. No reference to the memorandum or later report by the Embassy on the subject of this airgram has been found in Department files.