824.24/9–1548
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador of Bolivia (Martinez Vargas)
The Acting Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Excellency the Ambassador of Bolivia and has the honor to refer to the Department’s note of June 30, 1948, to the Embassy with which there were transmitted Statements LL–15 and LL–161 reporting charges against the Government of Bolivia for defense aid transferred up to March 31, 1948 under the terms of the Lend-Lease Agreement of December 6, 1941.
It now may be stated that, in the absence of any further billings from the United States Government’s procurement agencies since the date covered by Statement LL–16, the figures reported in the Department’s note of June 30, 1948 are to be considered complete and final. Therefore, it will be noted that the total value of defense aid transferred to the Government of Bolivia is $5,036,546.81 and that the overall repayment responsibility of the Government of Bolivia is $915,644.21.
Inasmuch as a settlement arrangement effected between the American Embassy in La Paz and the Government of Bolivia in November of 1947, supported by Supreme Resolution No. 26027 promulgated on October 10, 1947 by the Bolivian Ministry of the Treasury, provided for settlement of the lend-lease account in the amount of $916,000 of which the equivalent of $600,000 is payable in Bolivianos and the remainder in United States Dollars, an instruction has been sent by the Department to the American Embassy in La Paz requesting that appropriate authorities of the Government of Bolivia be informed that that amount of the settlement payable in Dollars, in the manner specified in the settlement arrangement, shall be $315,644.21 and not $316,000 as provided therein.
The Government of Bolivia, of course, understands that the settlement arrangement concluded in November 1947 covers only defense aid transferred under the specific terms of the Lend-Lease Agreement of December 6, 1941 and does not include nor refer to any outstanding unpaid accounts of contingent character such as cash reimbursable transactions, transportation accounts or other accounts [Page 346] of similar character. Settlement of such responsibilities, where they may exist, shall be separate and apart from the settlement already arranged in the case of the formal lend-lease account. It is hoped by this Government that appropriate action on the part of the Bolivian Government will be undertaken for their settlement as soon as possible.
- Not printed.↩