478. Editorial Note
On February 15, in a letter to Ambassador Mills, Minister of the Treasury José Gabriel Terán Verea submitted a proposal for settling the contingent lend-lease account, which was transmitted to the Department under cover of despatch 324, February 20. (Department of State, Central Files, 722.56/2–2056) In instruction 149 to Quito, May 4, the Department stated in part: “The Ecuadoran proposal that payments extend over eight years and that sucre payments covering one-half of the debt be paid first over a four-year period, with the other half to be paid in the final four years in dollars, is unacceptable.” (Ibid.)
In a memorandum dated June 19, Thorsten V. Kalijarvi recommended that Under Secretary Hoover approve the completion of negotiations for a lend-lease settlement through payment by Ecuador of 10 semi-annual installments of $54,655 in United States dollars. Hoover initialed his approval of this arrangement on June 26. (Ibid., 722.56/6–1956) In a memorandum dated September 4, Kalijarvi [Page 965] informed Hoover that the Ecuadoran lend-lease settlement arrangement entered into force on August 30 through an exchange of notes in Quito on that day. Terán and Alejandro Teodoro Ponce Luque, Minister of National Defense, signed for Ecuador. William A. Wieland, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the Embassy, signed for the United States. (Ibid., 722.56/6–2956)
Under cover of a letter, dated September 21, Francis T. Murphy, Chief of the Lend-Lease and Surplus Property Division, Bureau of Economic Affairs, Department of State, forwarded an Ecuadoran check for $54,655, as payment of the first installment under the new agreement, to Charles T. Brannan, Chief of the Investments Branch, Division of Deposits and Investments, Department of the Treasury. (Ibid., 723.56/9–2156)