824.154/12–248
The Embassy of Bolivia to the Department of State
The Embassy of Bolivia presents its compliments to the Department of State and refers to the enclosed copy of the letter1 addressed to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank informing him of the Bolivian Government’s decision to continue the construction of the Cochabamba–Santa Cruz Highway until its conclusion, in accordance with the plans of the Public Roads Administration and the estimates of the Board of Review, sent to Bolivia last June, which set the total cost of the project at $26,000,000.
The attached letter supplements the one previously addressed to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank, under date of November 16, 1948, and memorandum on the subject, copies of which were also brought to the attention of the State Department.
The Government of Bolivia is convinced that the Department of State appreciates, in every respect, that the Cochabamba–Santa Cruz Highway is of vital significance to the very existence of Bolivia and that, if the project were abandoned, it would be impossible to carry out the Bohan Plan which has been the source of extensive cooperation between the Governments of the United States and Bolivia, particularly during the last war.
In this conviction, the Government of Bolivia trusts that, with the aid of the State Department, the Export-Import Bank will favorably consider the application for the total financing of the project and, in the meantime, will grant the interim credit which is now being negotiated.2
- Not printed.↩
- The Department acknowledged the Bolivian Embassy’s memorandum on December 16, 1948 in a memorandum, not printed, which indicated that the application would receive the careful and sympathetic consideration of the Department, but added: “However, as the Bolivian Government is aware, the final decision rests with the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank.”↩