810.154/10–747

The Ambassador in Guatemala ( Kyle ) to the Secretary of State

restricted
No. 2658

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s instructions Nos. 826 of July 29, 1947 and 853 of September 11, 194718 requesting the negotiation of a supplemental agreement concerning the cooperation between the United States and Guatemala in the improvement of the Inter-American Highway in this country within the provisions of Public Law 375 of December 26, 1941.

Copies of the proposed exchange of notes enclosed with the Department’s instruction No. 826 were submitted by note to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on August 7, 1947; and the Embassy followed up with a note dated September 16, 1947, inquiring as to the present status of this matter. Subsequently, Mr. Donovan19 on two or three occasions discussed the matter informally with the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Lic. Arturo Herbruger Asturias, in an effort to expedite Guatemalan consideration of the proposed modification to cover the limitation on the use of the $1,000,000 appropriated by the United States Congress for the Inter-American Highway in the Independent Offices Appropriation Act for the fiscal year 1946. Subsequently, a meeting was held in the Under Secretary’s office on October 2 with the attendance of the Under Secretary of Communications, Lie. Ponciano España Rodas, two technical advisors of the latter’s Ministry, and Messrs. Donovan and Wells of this Embassy.20 As an outcome of this meeting, the Guatemalans suggested the addition of a paragraph in the Embassy’s proposed note in substantially the following language:

“Except as amended herein, there remain in full power and effect the agreement effected by the exchange of notes of May 19, 194321 and the memorandum of understanding22 signed September 1, 1944 by the Director General of Roads for the Republic of Guatemala and on September 8, 1944 by the Commissioner of Public Roads, Public Roads Administration, Federal Works Agency for the Public Roads Administration, as modified on June 6, 1947, fixing the total amount to be set aside for the project by the Public Roads Administration at $6,300,000.”

The foregoing additional paragraph was believed necessary by the Under Secretary for Communications and the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs since they said that the proposed supplemental agreement [Page 153] would have to be submitted to the Guatemalan Congress for ratification. For this reason, officials of the Ministry of Communications felt that the supplemental agreement should stipulate that it would not affect the financial obligations already undertaken by the United States Government in the basic agreement. The officials mentioned expressed the opinion that with this clarification of language there will be no difficulty in obtaining the final approval of the Guatemalan Congress, particularly since present Guatemalan laws do not impose any restrictions of this nature on the use of highways.

While it was made perfectly clear in conversations with the aforementioned officials that the proposed supplementary agreement involves no additional financial commitment on the part of the United States Government and that the new agreement is intended only to facilitate use in Guatemala of the $1,000,000 already appropriated by Congress in the Independent Offices Appropriation Act for the fiscal year 1946, it is important that there should be no ambiguity on this point in the proposed supplemental agreement. While it is believed that, with the suggested additional paragraph, there should be no future misunderstanding, the Department may wish to suggest some improvement in language.

Attention is invited to the Department’s restricted circular airgram of August 18, 1947, advising that the Public Roads Administration has prepared a proposed amendment to Public Law 375, approved December 26, 1941, which would provide an additional authorization of $60,000,000 to be appropriated for the construction of the Inter-American Highway, the proposed amendment to include a provision that such additional funds authorized shall not be available for work in any cooperating country until such country enters into an agreement that it will not impose certain restrictions on the use of the highway. Since the language in this proposed amendment to Public Law 375 states more specifically the required guarantees on the part of the cooperating countries than the language used in the Independent Offices Appropriation Act for 1946, the question arises whether the guarantees now sought in a supplemental agreement would be sufficient also for the purposes of the proposed amendment. If not, the Embassy believes that consideration should be given to drafting the proposed exchange of notes in such language as will cover the requirements of the proposed legislation mentioned in the Department’s airgram of August 18.

The Embassy will await the Department’s further instructions before reopening the matter with the appropriate Guatemalan authorities.

Respectfully yours,

For the Ambassador:
Milton K. Wells

First Secretary of Embassy
  1. Latter not printed.
  2. Andrew E. Donovan, 2d, former First Secretary of Embassy and Consul at Guatemala, who left that post on October 8, 1947, for another assignment.
  3. Milton K. Wells, First Secretary of Embassy and Consul at Guatemala.
  4. For text, see Executive Agreement Series No. 345, or 57 Stat. (pt. 2) 1111.
  5. Not printed.