Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1944, The American Republics, Volume VII

740.25112 R.P./9–1644: Airgram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Chile (Bowers)

Washington, October 3, 1944—3:35 p.m.

A–639. Reference your telegram no. 1511 of September 16.⁴² There has been no violent disagreement between British and American representatives on the Proclaimed List Committee with respect to deletions for Chile. As stated in Department’s telegram no. 988 of September 14 the British Embassy here suggested the simultaneous approach to the Chilean President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs informing them that if certain action were completed the American and British Governments would delete all Category III cases. The Department felt that such an approach would be desirable for the reasons stated in the final paragraph of Department’s telegram no. 988, but at the same time, took the position that such an approach should not preclude substantial deletions supplement by supplement if the Chilean Controls Commission continued to show substantial progress on elimination of Axis spearheads. The British have concurred in the Department’s views in this respect and are prepared to make substantial deletions on the basis of continued progress by the Chilean Controls Commission.

In view of the foregoing it does not appear to be necessary or desirable at this time to approach the British concerning points 1 and 2 in section 1 of the telegram under reference which deal with the objections of the British to the Chilean controls program and their suggestions for rectifying the defects of the program.

Point 3 of your telegram raises the question of the British policy with respect to future Proclaimed List additions and deletions. The preceding paragraph indicates that the British have concurred in the Department’s views concerning future deletions. With respect to additions, the British have felt quite strongly that no supplements should be published which did not contain at least one addition so that no difficulty would arise in the event that it should be found necessary to resume active listing because the Chilean Government had not continued to proceed vigorously with its controls program. The British, however, have not pressed this point as is obvious from Supplement VIII–1 in which no additions appeared for Chile. In this connection, it is apparent from your telegram no. 1514 of September 17⁴³ that you believed that some cases heretofore recommended for addition and not yet included in the Proclaimed List are sufficiently serious to warrant inclusion in the forthcoming supplement. These recommendations will be reviewed and you will be informed which cases the Committee has selected for Supplement VIII–2.

With respect to point 4 of your telegram under reference the British representative stated at a recent Interdepartmental Committee meeting that MEW at the very beginning of the war decided in favor of efforts to eliminate Axis spearheads by liquidation, forced sale and similar technique even though such action might indirectly endanger the security of all foreign investments. The Department believes that the foregoing casts sufficient light on the British attitude for you to decide whether there are any strong objections to the approach suggested by the British as described in Department’s telegram no. 988.

In view of the final sentence in the second section in the telegram under reference additional names were approved for deletion in Supplement VIII–1 raising total deletions for that supplement from 43 to 62 names. You will note that while a larger number of deletions appeared in Supplement VIII–1 than had been anticipated all names recommended in your telegram no. 1462 of September 6⁴³ were not deleted. The reasons why these names were not deleted were explained in Department’s telegram no. 996 of September 16. If you wish to have these names reconsidered please submit a further report containing facts justifying their deletion.

In this connection you should bear in mind that the Interdepartmental Committee feels that while the Chilean authorities have made sufficient progress on local controls to justify substantial deletions, it does not feel that the Chilean authorities have made such a degree of progress that cases can be deleted without carefully inquiring into the facts of each case. The Committee while favorably disposed to substantial deletions in Chile is firmly of the opinion that the least harmful cases should be deleted first. In order to select the least harmful cases the Committee inquires into the facts in each case; consequently in order to assure the desired number of deletions for any given supplement it is necessary that you supply the Department with the following: (1) a report of the current progress of the Chilean Controls Commission in eliminating Axis spearheads upon which to predicate the representation to the Interdepartmental Committee that substantial deletions should be made, and (2) a concise statement of the facts in each case recommended by you for deletion indicating why each case is one which merits deletion at that particular time with reference to other possible deletable cases.

Hull

42. Not printed; it conveyed Ambassador Bower’s belief that the British Embassy in Santiago had criticized the Chilean control program in its reports, that the British wished to freeze the Proclaimed List as long as possible, and that there was a violent disagreement over the matter between British and American representatives on the Proclaimed List Committee in Washington (740.25112 R.P./A–1644).
43. Not printed.
43. Not printed.