723.2515/361: Telegram
The Ambassador in Chile (Shea) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received December 11, 12.16 a.m.]
I called informally this afternoon upon the Minister of Foreign Affairs to present Mr. Robbins37 and incidentally asked him whether he had anything further to say to me regarding the Tacna and Arica situation. Department’s December 4, 6 p.m., my December 9, 4 p.m. The Minister for Foreign Affairs immediately replied that he had nothing new to say except that the Minister of Argentina had called on him and advised him that he was in receipt of a communication from his Government directing him as already reported in my December 9, 4 p.m. to offer mediation in conjunction with the United States.
He stated then confidentially that the term mediation surprised him in as much as no such expression was used in my memorandum [Page 137] and it would appear reasonable that the memorandum of the American Ambassador to Argentina would not have been based on any instructions stronger than the ones given by the Department to me.
I have therefore taken the liberty of requesting the Embassy at Buenos Aires to forward me a copy of its memorandum to the Foreign Office on this subject and should also appreciate instructions I mentioned. I shall not express myself on this point unless authorized by the Department.
- Warren D. Robbins, assigned as Secretary of the Embassy, Dec. 2.↩