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reo oR 4 . ge ef : (ya 4 Office Memorandum + onirTEp sTATES GOVERNMENT 4: AZ TO : D. M DATE: August/29, 1946 FROM : C. H. Cars Wi i (hy Giese O tell ALL INFOTIATION CONTAINED ©: SS SUBJECT: © Basque Int ence Organization shoved FLY? wre Tracy Administrative. * HERE? tS UN CLASSIFIED ee: Eee EXCEPT WHERE SHOWN ur. zarbo OTHERWISE i Quinn fa ve" Tele. Room L Prior to the departure of al Agent ils Beane 7 on his assignment “eee . he was instructed to review the informants set up country with particular regard to the utilization of the Basque Intelligence Organization. During the past two years_we, have paid the Basque Organization in Argentina $2,000.00 monthly. } s recently advised that he discussed the question of the work being performed by the Basques on several occasions recently with Jose Maria“de’Lasarte, the head of the organization in Argentina, It was pointed out to Lasarte that the volume of the information submit- ted by his group, while valuable, was not sufficient to justify the large monthly payment presently being made, Lasarte said he realized that fact and that he intended to discuss the matter with his superiors in New York, with a view to reorganizing their service in Argentina, Lasarte was to leave Buenos Aires on July 23 last en route to France and expected to spend two to three weeks in New York City. 4e tol that during the past year he had never known whether or not their | services were going to be continued and hesitated to arrange a complete reorganization which called for bringing in additional personnel. (e ‘) explained that with the change in emphasis from coverage of Nazi b-| cctv: te: i group cou probably do detter wor’ he brou in sever ndividuals from other countries in Latin America and in Europe who were more familiar with the Comminist picture. Lasarte indicated that after his conversations in New York, a co 6 plan for reorganization will be submitted to the Bureau for approval. bare GERERR -2cc0s¢ 3 that if a new arrangement is made with the Basques, it wo preferable to arrange to pay the Argentine group through their headquarters in New York City. He said that in his present situation, it was axtremely difficult to obtain the large amowmt of | su AH Argent. pesos required to pay them on account of local currency re lations.’ The payments made to the Basques in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and other Latin American countries have been reviewed, Employment of t. Basques in Colombia, Mexico, Chile and Cuba, the only other countries in Or