837.6363/540a: Airgram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Cuba ( Braden )
A–515. The Petroleum Supply Committee for Cuba67 in its letter no. 273 dated March 1, 1944 addressed to the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Supply Committee for Latin America indicates that the local committee is persisting in endeavoring to establish its ideas as to the proper volumetric participation of Cumex in the fuel oil consumption of Cuba.
The Department repeats the advice given in its A–2720 of December 23, 1943,65 namely, that the division among the various members of the local committee of the total quantities of petroleum products allotted to Cuba is a function of the local petroleum authorities. It [Page 961] is expected that in approving such division the local authorities will follow generally equitable lines, which in practice has meant elsewhere the use of some equitable base or qualifying period, and that you would cooperate to that end with the local authorities.
There is no justification for the theory of the local committee that participants’ quantities should necessarily be calculated on the basis of participants’ sales in the qualifying period in the non-essential and essential categories separately. If there are special circumstances justifying the local committee’s attitude, they should have the approval of the local authorities.
The Department desires to see the question of equitable participation for Cumex, as an established distributor in the Cuban market, satisfactorily taken care of and to have the position of the pool committee under local legislation adequately clarified.