821.12/38: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Colombia (Lane)
1024. Your 1237 of September 25, 1 p.m. You are authorized to sign the proposed health and sanitation agreement.
[Page 227]Before you sign, however, you should explicitly explain to the appropriate Colombian authorities that signature of the agreement can in no way commit this Government to make available supplies and equipment which may be deemed necessary to implement the agreement. You should explain to them the very real shortages of many essential materials and the necessity for preserving them for war essential undertakings. While the Department sympathizes with the objectives which the Colombian Government aims at in a health and sanitation program, the Colombian Government will recognize, we feel sure, that the allocation of essential or critical equipment and materials to it must be held in abeyance so long as really important war demands for them continue.
[The agreement was effected by exchange of notes signed at Bogotá, October 23, 1942; for text, see Department of State Executive Agreement Series No. 369, or 57 Stat. (pt. 2) 1310.]