Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, The United Nations; The Western Hemisphere, Volume II

824.51/10–2549

Memorandum by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Barber) to the Director of the Office of Financial and Development Policy (Knapp)

restricted

[Washington,] October 25, 1949.

As you are aware, there has been pending before the Export-Import Bank for about a year an application from the Government of Bolivia for a credit of $26,000,000 with which to complete the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz highway project which was initiated according to the recommendations of the US Economic Mission which visited Bolivia in 1942 under the chairmanship of Mr. Merwin L. Bohan of the Department of State.¹

The Export-Import Bank proposed some time ago to finance of the current costs of completing the highway, up to a maximum of $16,000,000, provided Bolivia could and would furnish the balance necessary. On October 14, the Bolivians furnished the Bank with a revised financial plan and other pertinent documents to support its contention that it could and would make the required contribution to the project.

Assistant Secretary Miller, prior to his departure for Chile, Bolivia and Peru, expressed to officers of the Department, the Export-Import Bank, and the Bolivian Embassy his desire that the troublesome Cochabamba highway matter be settled prior to his arrival in Bolivia on October 28. He received the assurances of all concerned that every effort would be made to resolve the problem prior to that date.

The Bolivian application is not on the agenda of the weekly meeting of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank which is scheduled for October 26. It is requested that you raise the subject at that meeting and press the Board to take special action on the application either on October 26 or 27 in order that Mr. Miller may be informed of the decision upon his arrival at La Paz. Even though a final favorable decision may not be possible, conditional approval of the application of which Mr. Miller could inform Bolivian officials would be most helpful.²

1. For pertinent documentation, see Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. v, pp. 592 ff.
2. The Export-Import Bank authorized the $16 million credit on October 28, 1949. Material on the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz Highway question is contained principally in Department of State decimal files 811.516/Export-Import Bank, 824.154, and 824.51.