Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, American Republics: Central and South America, Volume VII

495. Instruction From the Acting Secretary of State to the Embassy in Paraguay¹

A–29

Washington, October 11, 1955.

SUBJECT

• Interest of Paraguayan Government in Bilateral Military Assistance Agreement with the United States

In its despatch No. 204 of January 21, 1955,² the Embassy reported conversations that had been held with the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs³ at his request on a possible bilateral military assistance agreement⁴ between the United States and Paraguay. The interest of the Paraguayan Government in a military assistance agreement was brought to the attention of the Department of Defense which, for the Embassy’s information, has now informed the Department that “there is no foreseeable military requirement for an engineer battalion or other type military units from Paraguay for participation in hemisphere defense tasks”.⁵

The Embassy in its discretion may wish to tell the appropriate Paraguayan officials that Paraguay’s interest in participating in the grant Military Assistance Program has been given very careful consideration by the Department and the Department of Defense, and that while we appreciate the utility to Paraguay of an engineer battalion, we regret that it is not possible to accede to Paraguay’s request. Under the General Military Plan of the Inter-American Defense Board,⁶ the United States has assumed primary responsibility for the defense of the Caribbean–Panama–Galapagos sector, and our grant Military Assistance Program is designed to develop units to be used, if necessary, outside their national territories to assist in the defense of this sector. Current United States plans for the defense of this sector do not contemplate the commitment of a unit, or units, from Paraguay. Paraguay would, however, have a responsibility under the General Military Plan for participating in the defense of the South Atlantic sector. A further reason for not meeting the Paraguayan request is that because of higher priority of requirements in other areas of the world, the United States does not have funds available for a grant Military Assistance Program in Paraguay.

The Paraguayan Government continues, of course, to be eligible for reimbursable assistance, as the Embassy notes in its despatch, and the U.S. will continue to render appropriate assistance with respect to requests from the Paraguayan Government to purchase military equipment from the Department of Defense.

Murphy

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 734.5–MSP/1–2155. Secret. Drafted by Sayre and approved by Holland.
2. Not printed. (Ibid.)
3. Luis Ramirez Boettner.
4. Paraguay was seeking assistance under terms of the Mutual Security Act of 1954 (P.L. 665); for text, see 68 Stat. 832.
5. Further analysis of the U.S. position regarding the possibility of a bilateral military assistance agreement is in despatch 149 from Asuncion, November 4. (Department of State, Central Files, 734.5–MSP/11–455)
6. For information on the plan, see the editorial note, Foreign Relations, 1951, vol. II, p. 1028.