835.00/11–2046
The Ambassador in Argentina (Messersmith) to the Secretary of State
No. 1273
Sir: …
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I now have to transmit herewith for the strictly confidential information of the Department for the present (enclosure 1)44 a translation [Page 336] of a decree which has been issued by the Argentine government which is self-explanatory and in which are listed the names of the persons who are to be made the subjects of this special action. When the Foreign Minister handed me a copy of this decree, he stated that only four copies of the decree as yet existed and that he was giving me one of these but that I was to maintain the existence of the decree in complete confidence, as the Argentine government was presently doing, in view of the fact that the arrest of these individuals had to be carried through in such a way as to avoid possibility of escape of any of these individuals or their having the opportunity to have recourse to legal action in the way of habeas corpus. The Minister said that these aliens included in the decree were in process of being arrested and detained and would be given administrative hearings, and on the basis thereof, in view of the information in their possession, would be deported on a vessel, presumably of the Argentine Navy or Merchant Marine, which is being prepared for the purpose. He said that the decree would not be published until the departure of the vessel.
The Department will note from Article 1 of the decree that there are listed therein the names of 52 persons, most of them being Germans. The Minister explained that this list did not represent all of those in the lists which the British and we had submitted to the Argentine government for investigation in which action may eventually be taken. He stressed that this list contained the names of most of those whom the British and we had indicated in our lists as being the most important enemy aliens in the lists and those concerning whom the Argentine government had been able adequately to definitely establish the fact of acts against the State and the United Nations. He said that it was the desire of the Argentine government to get this particular group out of the country and to continue its investigations with regard to other persons on our lists.
The Minister pointed out that the procedure being followed was the same which had been followed in the case of those deported on the Highland Monarch. He pointed out that it was the only way that the Argentine government presently saw of getting these more important enemy aliens out of the country without prolonged action in the courts permitted under the Argentine law on behalf of these persons.
It is quite obvious that this action of the Argentine government is to be an expression of its good faith in dealing with this problem of enemy aliens in which it has encountered so many difficulties which have been brought out fully in despatches of this Embassy.
The Foreign Minister said that it was hoped to get this ship carrying these aliens on its way during the course of this week and that the departure of the ship would depend upon the ability of the police to locate and detain the persons in the lists. He informed me on the [Page 337] morning of November 18 that the police had already been able to locate and detain some 40 persons. He said that several who were not of German nationality had already been able to escape surveillance and proceed to Chile but as they were not of Chilean nationality, it was the opinion of the Ministry that they would be able to be located in Chile and eventually deported.
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Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩