740.24112A/10–2644
The Chargé in Bolivia ( McLaughlin ) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 1.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s circular telegram of September 20, 1944, which authorized this Embassy to transmit to the Bolivian Foreign Office the text of a declaration jointly agreed to by the Governments of the United States and Great Britain with respect to the maintenance of the Proclaimed and Statutory Lists following the cessation of organized resistance in Germany and Europe in those countries which had not before the cessation of such hostilities effectively eliminated Axis spearhead firms from their internal economies, and to report that there has been an exchange of notes between the Embassy and the Bolivian Foreign Office on this subject and on the related subject of the proposed program to replace Axis spearhead firms in Bolivia.
There are transmitted as enclosures to this despatch the Spanish texts and English translations thereof of two notes addressed to the Embassy under the dates of October 9 and October 18, 1944, in reply to this Embassy’s note under date of September 2657 which transmitted, pursuant to the instructions contained in the telegram under reference, the joint declaration of the Governments of the United States and Great Britain with respect to the maintenance of the Proclaimed and Statutory Lists following the cessation of organized hostilities in Europe. It will be recalled that this Embassy has forwarded for the information and files of the Department the parallel note addressed to the Foreign Office by the British Legation in its despatch no. 4431 of October 6, 1944.58
The two Bolivian notes transmitted herewith are essentially the same in respect of the attitude expressed by the Bolivian Government in connection with the maintenance of the Proclaimed and Statutory Lists in Bolivia following the cessation of organized hostilities in [Page 535] Europe. It is believed that an administrative inadvertence in the Foreign Office accounts for the fact that two notes were dispatched in reply to the Embassy’s note.
It will be noted that both of the Bolivian notes express the conformity of the Bolivian Government with the joint declaration of the Governments of the United States and Great Britain and that both of the notes likewise contain assurances that the Bolivian Government intends to eliminate Axis spearhead firms from the national economy.
The statement contained in the Bolivian note of October 9, 1944, to the effect that the Axis spearhead firms would be expropriated by the Bolivian Government “once the corresponding credits are obtained”, caused the Embassy considerable concern lest the Bolivians did not clearly understand that the proposed Export Import Bank credit of $2,000,000 would not be made presently available unless the Bolivian Government proceeded to expropriate Axis properties on the basis of laws approved by the Bolivian National Convention rather than on the basis of executive decrees which had not been ratified by the National Convention. The Embassy felt, therefore, impelled to address a note to the Foreign Office in reply to this statement which would make our position clear with respect to the question of financial assistance in connection with the proposed program to replace Axis spearhead firms. A copy of the Embassy’s note under date of October 23, 1944, is transmitted for the information and files of the Department.59 It will be noted that my note draws heavily from the attitude and point of view expressed by the Department in its confidential telegram no. 1034 of October 18, 1944, in which the Department states (in paraphrase): “The Department, therefore, attaches importance to suitable legislation being enacted by the Bolivian National Convention.”
The Bolivian note under date of October 18 contains a much more unequivocal statement of the intention of the Bolivian Government to expropriate Axis spearhead firms, and may be interpreted as superseding the earlier note and removing therefrom the barb of the implication that the Bolivian Government will proceed to the expropriation and replacement of Axis spearhead firms on the basis of executive decrees if the United States furnishes financial assistance in connection therewith. This note, however, did not reach the Embassy until October 24, which was after the Embassy had dispatched its note of October 23 in reply to the earlier Bolivian note of October 9. Inasmuch as the Bolivian note of October 18 does not specifically commit the Bolivian Government to proceed to the expropriation and replacement of Axis spearhead firms on the basis of legislation approved [Page 536] by the Bolivian National Convention, I believe that the despatching of the Embassy’s note of October 23 may prove to be timely and helpful in impressing on the Government our conceptions of the bases of United States financial assistance in connection with the replacement program, and may be considered as constituting a full and adequate reply to the assurances contained in both of the Bolivian notes that the Bolivian Government will proceed to the expropriation of Axis spearhead properties.
Except for the events reported herein there appear to be no new developments in connection with the program to replace Axis firms in Bolivia. As will be surmised, the Bolivian National Convention has not as yet considered the expropriation and other executive decrees deemed by this Embassy necessary to the expropriation and replacement program, although the Embassy continues to receive assurances from high Bolivian officials and Convention leaders that such decrees will be ratified before the Convention adjourns.
Respectfully yours,
Commercial Attaché