724.3415/171: Telegram
The Ambassador in Argentina ( Bliss ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10 p.m.]
109. A report that the Government of Argentina had offered its mediation to settle the boundary dispute between Bolivia and Paraguay has been given prominence in La Nación. The Foreign Minister has denied in the paper that the Government of Argentina had offered mediation.
I have ascertained from a reliable source that about a week ago the Government of Argentina instructed its diplomatic representatives at Asunción and La Paz to inform the Governments to which they are accredited in the following sense: An impasse having apparently been reached in the negotiations between the Governments of Bolivia and Paraguay to settle the long-standing boundary dispute, the Government of Argentina deemed it important to settle the matter before the Pan American Conference opened next month. As an evidence of its friendly and neighborly sentiments and since the meetings of the Joint Commission were being held in Buenos Aires, the Government of Argentina made the suggestion that an agreement be reached between the two parties along the following lines:
- 1.
- That the matter be submitted to definite arbitration.
- 2.
- That police forces be substituted for military forces in the small regiments in the territory in dispute and along the frontiers.
- 3.
- That a nonaggression pact effective until the disputed question is finally adjudged, be signed by Bolivia and Paraguay.
Bolivia answered that it gladly accepted Argentina’s offer of mediation, and Argentina replied that it had not offered to act as mediator, would not accept [a request?] to arbitrate, and had only suggested a logical and final way out of the present difficulty. Paraguay answered that it accepted the Argentine suggestion in principle.