740.23112A/180
The Chargé in Peru (Butler) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 7.]
Sir: In continuation of despatch No. 8898 of January 27, 1944,17 I have the honor to describe briefly the progress of conversations during the last few weeks and the present apparent status of our campaign for a comprehensive and rapid round-up of violators of the Peruvian and Allied trading-with-the-enemy regulations.
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Among the new and excellent features of the proposed new law the following are outstanding:
Every kind of Axis property is subject to expropriation, including the participation of Axis subjects in other businesses.
Sales of Axis property since December 8, 1941, or even before that date, are subject to reexamination and possibly to nullification and expropriation.
Commercial and legal existence is to be extinguished.
Patents, trade marks, licenses and every class of exclusive or other right are to be cancelled and annulled.
All costs of applying the measures are to be charged to the Axis firms.
Foreigners may not hold powers of attorney for those subject to restrictions.
Law 9810 nullifying naturalization in Peru may be invoked as required.
It is hoped full confirmation of the foregoing will be possible at an early date.
Practically all consulted seem to agree that the German Transatlantic Bank has been extinguished legally as well as commercially. The Superintendent of Banks reports the following concrete progress: All employees have been dismissed; the bank’s shares in the Caja de Depósitos have actually been sold (for S/l,000,000) to the Peruvian Government for subsequent resale to Peruvian banks under authorization of a Supreme Resolution, dated January 28, 1944; the building and equipment in Lima are to be sold shortly—as soon as the legal documents are completed—to the Mortgage Bank for S/800,000 and about S/200,000 respectively; and the branch in Arequipa, formerly rented by the Germans, is to be taken over soon by the Agrarian Bank. Current announcements by the Superintendent of [Page 1558] Banks in the newspapers require all persons having claims against the German bank to present the same before May 22, 1944.
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Respectfully yours,
Counselor for Economic Affairs
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