-3- The Minister expressed the opinion that the operations of the Lufthansa in South America should be very carefully watched by our Government. He thought that it might well be possible that the Lufthansa was planning to expedite service to the West Coast of South America by flying directly across Brazil from Pernambuco, stopping at Trinidad, Bolivia, and thence through Bolivia to Peru. The records available in the Department of State do not corroborate the view that the Bolivian Government owns 80 percent of the stock of Lloyd Aereo Boliviano. They indicate that by 1936 the Government had acquired a substantial but minority holding of the stock and that wealthy native-born Bolivian citizens owned almost Bs. 600,000 of the stock. In addition Bolivian banks held at least Bs. 600,000 of stock but whether such holdings were genuinely for native-born Bolivian citizens is not known. The paid up capitalization and reserve funds of the Company in 1936 was reportedly only Bs. 1,747,290.30. By the present time this capitalization ls undoubtedly considerably higher; the Company's legal limit is understood to be Bs. 5,000,000. The Board of Directors has a majority of native-born Bolivian citizens but the Chairman, Treasurer, and Counselor are still understood to be Germans, as are the President and the Manager of the Company. Whether of |