724.3415/393
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs (Morgan) of a Conversation With the Paraguayan Chargé (Ramírez)
Dr. Ramírez said he desired to discuss the question of the exchange of prisoners with Bolivia, which had been mentioned in the conference with the Secretary day before yesterday. He had now received a telegram from his Government stating that the Bolivian prisoners are concentrated near Asunción and are being well treated. The Paraguayan Government is perfectly willing to arrange an exchange, but first it desired to know how many Paraguayan prisoners are held by the Bolivians, where they are, and to be sure that they are being well treated. Dr. Ramírez said that as he had no communication with the Bolivian Legation he would ask me to use my good offices as intermediary. I said I would be glad to do this and immediately called up the Bolivian Minister and repeated what Dr. Ramírez had told me. Dr. Diez de Medina said that he was of the opinion that there were no Paraguayan prisoners in the hands of the Bolivians; but certainly the Paraguayan Government should know best whether there were or not as they must know if their men were missing. However, he would immediately telegraph his Government for exact information [Page 838] on the subject, and would let me know as soon as a reply was received.
With regard to the treatment of the prisoners, the Bolivian Minister said he felt sure that if there were any Paraguayan prisoners they would be well treated, but it was precisely because there were rumors in La Paz that Bolivian prisoners held by Paraguay were being very badly treated that he was anxious to push the exchange of prisoners, and had also suggested that a representative of a neutral country should be named to investigate the matter and supervise the exchange.
I repeated what Diez de Medina had said to Dr. Ramírez.