812:51/11–1447: Airgram
The Secretary of State to the Embassy in Mexico
A–837. The Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank on November 12 approved a credit of $5 million, under the $50 million commitment in favor of Nacional Financiera, to assist that agency in financing the purchase in Mexico, through normal channels, of U.S. agricultural equipment under the following arrangements:
- (a)
- that all sales financed under the credit shall be made through established distributors in Mexico to purchasers certified by the Joint Commission for Eradication of Foot and Mouth Disease,53 or by another appropriate agency in Mexico as agricultural operators in the infected zone;
. . . . . . .
In conversations with the Export-Import Bank the Washington representatives of the Mexican Government informed the Bank that the Government was unwilling to use the credit entirely for the benefit of the infected zone, and that only one-half of the credit should be made available to finance purchases in that zone, because the Mexican Department of Agriculture considers the infected zone to be smaller in area and production than the non-infected zone, and also because equipment is needed in the non-infected zone to open up new lands. The Board of the Bank, however, with the concurrence of the Department, approved the use of the credit to finance purchases only in the infected zone, because of the most urgent need for tractors and associated implements in that zone. If this machinery is not made available land already in cultivation could not be worked because oxen, the prime source of farm power in the infected zone, are being removed. This action does not prevent the Mexican Government from extending credits in other zones without refinancing by the Bank.