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

840.51 Frozen Credits 21/46

The Ambassador in Colombia (Lane) to the Secretary of State

[Extracts]

No. 3592

Bogotá, April 13, 1944.
[Received April 24.]

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s instruction no. 1978 of February 24, 1944¹ regarding the remittance of funds for the assistance of Colombian nationals in enemy occupied territory, and reciprocally the remittance of funds from Germany for the assistance of Axis nationals in Colombia. The Department points out that while foreign exchange is being made available to the enemy for the assistance of Colombian nationals, the Axis governments on the other hand are not being obliged to diminish their foreign exchange resources in making similar payments to their nationals in Colombia. Reference is made to section (c) of Resolution I of the Washington Recommendations,² which requires that subsistence payments to Axis nationals resident in the American republics should not be made out of official blocked funds of the Axis nations in those countries except in cases of effective reciprocity. The Department suggested that this matter be brought to the attention of the Colombian authorities, and further developments reported.

Upon the receipt of the Department’s instruction under reference a note was addressed to the Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs under date of March 2, 1944 calling attention to this situation, and expressing the view that the Colombian Government would no doubt wish to give the fullest possible implementation to the Washington Resolutions. (Enclosure no. 1).¹ This note was acknowledged by Dr. Caballero Escovar, Acting Secretary General of the Foreign Office under date of March 8, 1944,¹ with the statement that the text of the Embassy’s note had been transmitted to the Minister of Finance in order that that Ministry might study the question.

Subsequently a further note was received from Dr. Caballero Escovar dated March 14, 1944 (copy and translation attached),⁴ in which it was pointed out that there existed no basis for establishing reciprocal treatment in the remittance of funds, and that accordingly, the Colombian authorities were obliged to assume the humanitarian responsibility for sustaining Axis nationals in the country, using blocked funds of such nationals in Colombia. Reference was also made in this note to the small amount of the remittances made to Colombian nationals in Axis territory.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

After waiting what seemed to be a reasonable period of time to hear further from the Foreign Office in regard to the matter, I finally broached the subject to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Carlos Lozano y Lozano, on April 12. The latter indicated the entire subject had been under discussion in governmental circles, and had even been brought to the attention of the Acting President. He said that the Government had decided on the action indicated in Dr. Caballero Escovar’s note of March 14.

I pointed out to Dr. Lozano that I feared that the authorities in Washington would obtain the impression from Dr. Caballero’s note that the Colombian Government is not as solicitous as it might be in carrying out the Washington recommendations, especially with respect to German Government funds, and I informed the Minister frankly that I had not reported as yet to the Department with respect to the exchange of correspondence hoping that a further note would be forthcoming, as had been promised by Dr. Caballero to Mr. Daniels,⁵ indicating that a request was being made of the German Government to furnish sufficient foreign exchange to cover expenses relating to German nationals in Colombia.

In reply to the Minister’s question as to whether I considered this matter as “grave”, I replied somewhat ambiguously stating that we considered it of importance that as a matter of principle all the American governments, and especially those which are members of the United Nations, should take every step to prevent advantages accruing to the Axis. The Minister finally promised that he would make a request of the German Government as I had requested and would send a note to me to that effect.⁶

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Respectfully yours,

Arthur Bliss Lane

1. Not printed.
2. For text of Resolution I, see Pan American Union, Congress and Conference Series No. 39: Final Act of the Inter-American Conference on Systems of Economic and Financial Control, June 30–July 10, 1942 (Washington, 1942), p. 7.
1. Not printed.
1. Not printed.
4. Not printed.
5. Paul C. Daniels, Counselor of Embassy.
6. Such a note, dated May 5, was sent to the Ambassador, and a copy was transmitted to the Department in despatch 3727, May 6, 1944, from Bogotá, not printed.