824.24/955a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Bolivia ( Boal )

57. The Department refers to the export control problems as reported in Embassy’s No. 83 of January 7, 6 p.m., No. 97 of January 9, 2 p.m., and No. 118 of January 10, 8 p.m.88

The Embassy should continue to refuse to receive Import Recommendations from the Banco Central, in as much as the Banco Central is considered by the Department to be officially related to the unrecognized regime, and the Import Recommendation is an official document of that regime.

This refusal on the part of the Embassy should not prevent the Banco Central from continuing to issue Import Recommendations as a means of exchange or import control or from perhaps giving the Bolivian importer the quadruplicate copy for transmission to the American supplier. If this occurs and if such import recommendations are submitted with license applications to FEA,89 they will be considered as merely informational documents and not as formal recommendations.

Exports of essential mining supplies and equipment now licensed under project or program licenses will be allowed to go forward under those programs.

The FEA, at the request of the Department, will set up appropriate mechanism to review all individual export license applications for Bolivia as presented, with or without Import Recommendations. Those applications which are patently acceptable from the standpoint of (1) absolute essentiality of the material and (2) unquestionable status of consignee will be approved. All doubtful cases will be referred to Embassy by airgram for your comment before approval. Import Recommendations issued prior to December 20, 1943 will be honored. The volume will be controlled so that the elimination of necessity of Import Recommendation will not result in larger export flow to Bolivia.

Appropriate notice will be given to American exporters that, until there is a recognized Government in Bolivia, procedural operations under the Decentralization Plan90 are temporarily suspended and that licenses for Bolivia will be considered with or without Import Recommendations.

Obviously the above procedure does not constitute an embargo [Page 500] against Bolivia and is merely an expedient and desirable variation of procedure in view of the existing situation.

Hull
  1. None printed.
  2. Foreign Economic Administration.
  3. For correspondence on this plan of exports control, see Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. v, pp. 106 ff.; with specific reference to Bolivia, see ibid., pp. 132 ff.