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  4. Document 559

559. Memorandum of a Conversation, Montevideo, December 10, 19571

Montevideo , December 10, 1957

PARTICIPANTS

  • Ambassador Jefferson Patterson
  • Mr. James Espy
  • President Arturo Lezama

In the course of a conversation, chiefly on other topics, I inquired of President Lezama as to the progress of the NCG bill introduced many months since in the Legislature requesting blanket authorization to conclude the PL480 Agreement with U.S. Government agencies.

President Lezama replied flatly that there was no hope for the measure, implying that too many vested interests were against it.

On my voicing that on the other hand I understood that importers of tobacco, cotton and maize were in favor of the bill, he stated that he, too, thought the measure would be one beneficial for the country, but his view had found scant echo in the Legislature.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 733.58/12–1157. Secret. Drafted by Patterson.↩