811.24522/9–45
The Ambassador in Ecuador (Scotten) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 12.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatch No, 3410, September 4, 1945, enclosing copies of the Aide-Mémoire regarding the Galápagos negotiations and Export-Import Bank loan which the Minister for Foreign Affairs and I signed at the Foreign Office September 1. In connection with this matter the Department will be interested to know that I inquired of the Minister whether the Ecuadoran Government had any plans to call a special session of Congress in the course of this year to ratify this agreement as well as the United Nations Charter and the agreements which may be arrived at during the forthcoming conference at Rio de Janeiro. The Minister replied by assuring me that all these agreements will eventually be ratified by Ecuador. He added, however, that, as I was aware, should his Government call a special [Page 1020] session of the Congress this would be, under the Constitution, composed of the same members as the recent Constituent Assembly which had caused the President so much trouble. He stated that from the standpoint of Ecuadoran internal politics the Government did not wish to reconvene this same body. He did not indicate that a final decision has been taken on this matter but gave me every impression that his Government at the present time at least prefers to wait until the ordinary session of Congress which is due to meet in August 1946 after regular elections are held. I am reliably informed that the reason for this attitude on the part of the present regime is that the majority of the Constituent Assembly was composed both of the extreme Leftist and the extreme Rightist elements, both of which have had disagreements with President Velasco Ibarra. I am informed that should an extraordinary session of Congress be called in the near future there is every likelihood of this Congress taking action which would result in the ousting of the President. What the final decision of the Government will be cannot be foreseen at the present time.
Under the terms of the Aide-Mémoire itself although $1,000,000 of the Exim Bank loan will be available to this Government for engineering studies immediately upon the reorganization of the Ecuadoran Development Corporation, the balance of the loan will not be available until the Galápagos treaty is actually ratified. Any delay in ratification will result, therefore, in a delay of the receipt of the funds and it may be that considerable pressure will be exerted upon the President to obtain these funds with as little delay as possible.
Respectfully yours,