838.51/4020: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Haiti ( Sparks )
148. Your 151, September 9 and 152, September 11.30 Will you please take the first opportunity to inform President Vincent that the American Government and its officials have consistently manifested a friendly willingness to consider a modification of the agreement signed at Port-au-Prince on August 7, 1933 which would include measures for the protection of the rights of the holders of the 1922 bonds. Intermittently since 1933, particularly in 1936 and 1937, this Department and the Legation at Port-au-Prince have carefully and repeatedly canvassed the situation with a view to negotiating a new arrangement with the Haitian Government.31 During that time various plans were submitted to the Haitian Foreign Office. To the most recent of the proposals advanced by this Government, no reply was received. The Department thereupon came to the conclusion that the Haitian Government was not seriously interested in carrying on the negotiations. The Department continues to stand ready to consider at any time whatever proposals the Haitian Government may make, although the present financial crisis in Haiti, for the alleviation of which this Government continues, as is well known to the President, to explore additional avenues of assistance, will render difficult the negotiation of a satisfactory instrument.
- Neither printed.↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1936, Vol. v, pp. 599 ff. and ibid., 1937, Vol. v, pp. 526 ff.↩