839.51/4195

The Dominican Minister (Despradel) to the Secretary of State

Excellency: Upon the direction of my government I have the honor to advise your Excellency as follows:

There has been filed with you heretofore the Memorial of the Dominican Republic presented to the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council, Inc.,17 in the matter of Dominican bonds, which matter is now pending before such council.

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Enclosed herewith I have the honor to hand you a copy of letter addressed by my government to the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council, Inc., together with a copy of their reply thereto.18

The proposal as made by the Dominican Republic to the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council, Inc., was prompted by an earnest desire to preserve the credit of the Dominican Republic and to preserve compliance with its obligations to foreign bondholders to the utmost degree, consistent only with its paramount duty to preserve the functions of government under the unprecedented conditions of the worldwide depression from which my government and people have suffered.

You will note that this agreement reached by the representatives of the Dominican Republic and the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council, Inc., contemplates the complete restoration of conditions existing under the outstanding bond contracts, and the present convention between my government and the government of the United States, except only as is therein provided, for the extension of the time for ultimate payment of the loan and a reduction of the percentage of the loan to be applied annually through sinking funds for the amortization of the debt. It necessarily involves the complete restoration of the operation of the customs receivership under the treaty with the United States;19 the collection of customs revenues by such receivership; the payment of the sums agreed upon therein for the purposes of interest and amortization; and the turning over of the remainder each year to the Dominican Government pursuant to the original contracts.

My government also desires to give to your government the definite further assurance that it does not now nor will it at any time in the future contend that any act of forbearance heretofore done or exercised by the government of the United States in relation to the convention between the two countries or in connection with the foreign bond contracts, up to and including the present, has been in fact, or shall be in any manner construed by my government to be, a waiver by the government of the United States of any of the terms or obligations of the convention between the two governments.

My government also desires to assure you that immediately upon receipt of advices that the Department of State of the United States concurs in the judgment of the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council, Inc.; that the proposal made is in the interest of the bondholders and fair to the Dominican Republic, it will immediately repeal the emergency legislation heretofore enacted in connection with collection of customs revenues, and the appropriation thereof for the preservation of government functions.

I take [etc.]

Roberto Despradel
  1. Not printed.
  2. See letters exchanged August 10 and 11, 1934, Foreign Bondholders Protective Council, Inc., Annual Report, 1934, pp. 59–62.
  3. Convention of December 27, 1924, Foreign Relations, 1924, vol. i, p. 662.