835.796/266
The Ambassador in Argentina (Armour) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 5.]
Subject: Personnel of Condor Airline in Argentina.
Sir: With regard to the above subject, I have the honor to refer to the Embassy’s telegram no. 964 of May 22 [21], 9 p.m.16 (a copy of which was sent to the Embassy at Rio de Janeiro), and to transmit herewith further information.
The telegram sent on May 16, 7 p.m., from the Embassy at Rio de Janeiro to this Embassy stated that Dr. Bento Ribeiro Dantas of the reorganized Condor company was desirous of discharging all persons in Condor’s employ whom we considered undesirable, and that he would shortly consult this Embassy on the matter.
Dr. Dantas called on the Counselor of the Embassy on May 19, and promised to furnish that same afternoon a revised list of the Condor personnel in Argentina. At that time he said he would return on May 22 to obtain whatever opinion we might offer as to any of his employees. His second visit was on May 21, at which time he brought a list of personnel, and said that he would probably be returning to Rio de Janeiro on the following morning, unless last minute developments postponed his departure. It was subsequently learned that he did not leave; as mentioned below, he paid a further visit to the Embassy today.
According to the revised payroll furnished by Dr. Dantas on May 21, approximately 38 employees have been discharged within the past few months, practically all of them being Germans. There are about 15 German and Italian employees remaining, and Dr. Dantas says that within a short time most of these will also be discharged, as soon as satisfactory replacements could be trained.
[Page 442]It was pointed out to Dr. Dantas that it was obviously his primary concern to see that any dangerous or suspicious employees were weeded out of his new organization, and that he and his company would be the first to suffer if there continued to be a possibility of sabotage or German control. He stated that he realized his responsibility in this connection, and that he was fairly well satisfied with the progress which had been made so far. While up to this time the Embassy has been unable to obtain any detailed information on the remaining personnel employed at the Quilmes airport, we did raise some question as to several officers in the administrative department …
[Here follows report on four employees.]
On his visit to the Embassy today, Dr. Dantas supplied further information regarding the general Condor situation. He says the Brazilian Government is anxious for his company to extend services to Buenos Aires (but not to Santiago) as soon as possible and, in fact, the former Argentine Ambassador to Brazil, Dr. Labougle, had expressed the same desire to President Vargas. However, the Argentine Government has not yet given formal approval for the renewal of this service.
Dr. Dantas saw the Minister of the Interior, Dr. Culaciati, yesterday, and during the course of the conversation there was a reference to the four Condor planes which had been grounded at Quilmes airport when the airline suspended service last December. It will be recalled (Embassy’s strictly confidential despatch no. 4600 of March 27) that Argentina reluctantly permitted these planes to be returned to Brazil, and three of them were flown back, leaving one here. Dr. Culaciati inferred to Dr. Dantas that the release of these planes was conditioned on the acquisition by Argentina of the Lati planes now grounded in Brazil, but Dr. Dantas denied that there was such an understanding, at least as far as he was concerned.
Dr. Culaciati then referred to the Condor shops at Quilmes. Dr. Dantas informed the Embassy today that the former Lufthansa officials were endeavoring to convince the Argentine army that it should expropriate these shops for Argentina, in which case Dantas thought that the Germans formerly employed by Condor would again be given employment. Dr. Dantas thinks there is a definite possibility that Condor will lose its Quilmes shops, possibly as a quid pro quo for permission for Condor to resume its service to Buenos Aires. Apropos of this, he said he made somewhat the following statement to Dr. Culaciati: “When Condor was under German control, and many Germans were employed, Argentina never thought of taking over the Quilmes shops. It seems strange that you should want to do this when we have reorganized our company, and have replaced the former German personnel with Argentines.”
[Page 443]Dr. Dantas believes that Ramón Castillo Jr. is still working behind the scenes in connection with Argentine airline pretensions, and that it is not impossible that some form of combination with the Spanish airline Iberia is being contemplated. However, he had no concrete information on this possibility.
Dr. Dantas is remaining in Buenos Aires for a few days longer, in the hope of getting a definite answer from the Argentine authorities regarding resumption of service. With regard to the general problem of replacing undesirable personnel, the Embassy believes that he has proceeded in a fairly expeditious manner considering the circumstances, and that he might have to make a temporary compromise in keeping a few of the questionable employees on the payroll, at least until adequate substitutes can be found.
The Department’s opinion would be appreciated as to whether Intava would be licensed to furnish gasoline to Condor in the event it obtains Argentine permission to resume service to Buenos Aires, and whether the complete elimination of all German and Italian employees is a necessary prerequisite to obtaining gasoline from Intava.
Respectfully yours,
Counselor of Embassy
- Not printed.↩