840.51 Frozen Credits 35/137: Telegram
The Ambassador in Argentina (Armour) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:16 p.m.]
2626. Minister of Finance, after reading aide-mémoire (Embassy’s 2619 of November 5, 1 p.m.18) stated that he agreed with us (Bohan was with me) that undoubtedly questionable transactions had been carried out, but that such things would not be permitted under the new finance administration in Argentina. Hence, he was not interested in the past history of the case, since he was centralizing matters in his own hands and he could assure me that no operations would be [Page 508] carried out in the future which would be objectionable. Foreign Minister interrupted to state “we give you our guarantees on this”. Finance Minister continued that since these guarantees had been given, the Treasury undoubtedly would wish to unblock these two banks, especially as it would be entirely agreeable to the Minister for the bank’s correspondents to submit informally full information to the United States Treasury Department regarding any future transfers.
The Ministers, throughout the interview, showed a complete lack of understanding of the Rio and Washington Resolutions and their remarks could have been interpreted as assurances that such resolutions would be effectively implemented providing the two banks are unblocked. My attempts to obtain more specific information were unsuccessful because of the bland assumption on their part that everything would be all right once the banks were cleared.
I believe the Department will share our views that such generalized statements mean nothing. I personally cannot see how this Government, in view of its clear tendencies and announced policies, could be counted upon for any effective implementation. Furthermore, I feel strongly that under the circumstances we should not prejudice the effective use of the material accompanying despatch 1244819 in a vain and illusory attempt to secure such implementation.
The Ministers clearly expect an early reply to their naive proposal and I would appreciate the Department’s views with respect to the next step to be taken.
The Department may wish me to see the Ministers again and inform them that if they are willing officially to furnish my Government with concrete information as to the specific measures their Government is prepared to take in order to implement effectively the pertinent Rio and Washington Resolutions, the Treasury Department will be happy to consider the elimination of the two banks from the list of special blocked nationals. It is realized that this course of action may lead to protracted discussions but frankly we can see no alternative procedure.