815.515/150
The Ambassador in Honduras ( Erwin ) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 24.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s instruction No. 1362, dated August 3, 1943, and to the Embassy’s telegram No. 178, of August 11, 1943, 5 pm,64 regarding the preliminary report of the Technical Financial Mission to Honduras suggesting a temporary solution for the currency problem.
The report was duly presented to the Honduran Foreign Office and a copy given to the Minister of Finance on August 6, 1943. No comment of any kind has been received from the Honduran Government to date.
On August 12, 1943, there was published in the official government record, La Gaceta, Executive Decree No. 66, supplementing Decree No. 59, of March 18, 1943. Decree No. 66 authorizes the importation and temporary circulation of up to $3,000,000 more of United States silver currency.
The Acting Minister of Finance, Dr. Urbano Quesada, has not been in Tegucigalpa since the publication of this decree. It is presumed, although no official confirmation is available, that the Technical Financial Mission’s recommendation will not be acted upon.
The Embassy urgently requests that the Treasury Department and other interested agencies be informed that further United States currency is needed by Honduras, and that appropriate steps be taken to facilitate the shipment of such currency.
Respectfully yours,
- Neither printed.↩