831.24/74
The Venezuelan Ambassador (Escalante) to the Secretary of State
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of Your Excellency’s note of the ninth instant11 in which you refer to the generous offer made by the Government of the United States of America to my Government to supply it with armaments to the value of $20,000,000 under the terms of the Lend-Lease Act of March 11, 1941.12 Your Excellency adds that, in accordance with the Supplementary Act13 approved by the American Congress on October 28, 1941, $150,000,000 will be for the purchase of naval and military equipment by the other American Republics and that the funds in question will be available until February 28, 1942.
In view of the foregoing, Your Excellency requests this Embassy to submit to the proper authorities of your Government the lists of materials which Venezuela desires.
In reply, I have the honor to advise Your Excellency that the Venezuelan Military Purchasing Commission has already submitted to the War Department the lists of requirements of the Army and [Page 612] Air Force of Venezuela and that there will soon be completed, the preliminary lists, also submitted already to the Navy Department, of the naval equipment required by my Government.
Moreover, as Your Excellency knows, the undersigned and Mr. Emilio Collado, an official of the Department of State, have been studying the draft agreement to be signed by the two Governments in regard to this matter, in which it is stipulated that the Government of Venezuela will acquire war equipment only to a value of $15,000,000.
I avail myself [etc.]