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  4. Document 843

811.24522/11–2145

The Chargé in Ecuador ( Sham ) to the Secretary of State

No. 3706
Quito , November 21, 1945.
[Received November 30.]

Sir: I have the honor to report that, at a luncheon given by President Velasco Ibarra for Mr. Frederick E. Hasler,64 the Minister for Foreign Affairs told me that the President had instructed him to send a note to the Embassy making an official request for a statement as to plans for discontinuing the Military Air Base at Salinas, or for a statement to the effect that the base was not to be discontinued in the near future. The Minister explained that the President anticipated being attacked in the press shortly, either just before or after the Extraordinary Session of Congress convenes on December 1, 1945, and he desired to be in a position to state what steps the Ecuadoran Government had taken regarding this matter and what the plans of the United States Government might be in connection therewith. He asked me to send a telegram immediately in anticipation of his forwarding the note. I did this in my telegram No. 816 of November 19, 6:00 p.m.65

The Minister for Foreign Affairs yesterday handed me personally in the Foreign Office his Note No. 59–DDP dated November 20, 1945, a copy and translation of which are attached hereto.65 This note goes a good deal farther than the Minister’s statement to me in the President’s residence. The note states concisely that it considers the war emergency terminated and it requests that the Military Air Base at Salinas be returned to the Ecuadoran Government in accordance with the Agreement of January 24, 194266 at the earliest possible moment.

The note, in addition to requesting that its contents be transmitted to the Department of State, specifically requests that instructions be issued to the appropriate American authority to name representatives to cooperate with those which might be designated by the Government of Ecuador at an early date to carry out the delivery of the base.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs stated that he would be grateful to have the Department’s decision in the premises as soon as possible.

Respectfully yours,

Geo. P. Shaw
  1. President of the Pan American Society of New York.↩
  2. Not printed.↩
  3. Not printed.↩
  4. Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. vi, p. 366.↩