740.00112A European War 1939/11741

The American Embassy in Argentina to the Argentine Ministry for Foreign Affairs45

[Translation]

aide-Mémoire

The Embassy of the United States of America has been informed that blocked funds of the German Reichsbank have been released in the amount of two hundred and fifty thousand pesos at the request [Page 462] of the Siemens Company for the payment of loans contracted with certain Argentine banks by the “Inag” Fábricas Reunidas de Utiles Sanitarios, a subsidiary of the Siemens Company of Germany. It is not known whether one of the local German banks was among the institutions receiving this payment, but irrespective of this consideration the operation served to increase the credit of a German company in Argentina and to furnish the German Government with a potential source of income in this country.

It would seem that the aforementioned transaction is inconsistent with Resolution V of the Rio de Janeiro Conference.

  1. Copy transmitted to the Department by the Ambassador in Argentina in his despatch No. 5031, May 11; received May 23.