811.20 Defense (M) Bolivia/9–2844: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Bolivia (Thurston)74
Washington, October 2,
1944—5 p.m.
991. For your information and that of Andrade in your discretion the Department sends you the following comments on the six points raised in your telegram No. 1726 of September 28:
- (1)
- It is the desire of this Government to return the procurement program in general to private trade as soon as it is practicable. Although this will apply to all contracts and materials, the Government [Page 491] must of necessity for some time remain in control of the procurement program for certain materials but does not desire, where it is possible to avoid doing so, to place new obstacles in the way of reversion to private hands.
- (2)
- It is contemplated that all FEA purchases will eventually be replaced by direct purchase by consumers.
- (3)
- As you know, this Government would welcome Bolivian Government representation at the tin negotiations.
- (4)
- The Department had consistently been told by the Bolivian Embassy here that it was the firm desire of the Bolivian Government to conclude a Government-to-Government contract. Although Foreign Office note proposing new tin prices did not specify a Government-to-Government contract, it strongly implied such an arrangement, and the Department thought it best to inform the Bolivian Government of its basic position in this connection.
- (5)
- The Department is well aware of the political considerations involved in tin negotiations and will definitely take them into account.
- (6)
- The Bolivian Embassy here states that it has received instructions to open conversations, and it is expected that these will begin during the course of the coming week with representatives of the producers and members of the Embassy staff. The Embassy expects a special envoy to come from Bolivia but as yet does not know who it will be.
Hull
- Ambassador Walter Thurston had been transferred from El Salvador to Bolivia in September 1944.↩