811.20 Defense (M) Bolivia/1330: Telegram
The Ambassador in Bolivia (Boal) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 18—2:30 a.m.]
1974. There has been no further progress in the discussions of the draft of the quinine agreement although there are indications that the Government has been trying to establish its own position for such discussions (see Department’s telegram 1348, November 18, 9 p.m., and my 1921, December 8, 6 p.m.9).
The Foreign Minister officially and the Minister of Agriculture on a personal basis told me today that a decree had been drafted for the President’s signature tomorrow prohibiting all exportation of bark and quinine products from Bolivia excepting by permit or excepting where an international agreement might exist and that this decree would be promulgated tomorrow.
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The arrangement contemplated in the decree for the issuance of permits will probably be represented to the Argentine Ambassador as a [plan] by which they can continue to get some quinine if they reverse their position prohibiting wheat and other commodities to Bolivia. The measure as a whole is illustrative of Bolivia’s struggle to maintain their footing between two opposing influences, that of the U. S. to obtain quinine for armed forces of the United Nations of which Bolivia is a member, the demand of Argentina to obtain quinine for speculators or for the Argentine Government which has adopted a menacing position with regard to their food and other supplies. [Page 578] The Bolivians have evidently done their best to place themselves in a negotiating position with both parties through the device of export permits at the same time yielding part way to our insistence that free export to neighboring countries be suspended.
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- Neither printed.↩