724.3415/393
Memorandum, by the Chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs (Morgan) of a Conversation Between the Secretary of State and the Bolivian Minister (Died de Medina), January 17, 1929
The Secretary said that now that all the neutral countries represented on the special commission concerned with the Paraguay-Bolivia dispute had named their delegates he thought it was high time that Bolivia and Paraguay named theirs as well and asked whether the Minister had any information. Dr. Diez de Medina said that he was much disturbed by the delay; that he had received no reply or word of any kind from his Government, either about the appointment of the delegates or about the exchange of prisoners. The Secretary mentioned the fact that it would take some time for the delegates to arrive and it was highly desirable the delegates should be named and start for Washington as soon as possible. The Bolivian Minister commented on the fact that his own Government had set a six months limit for the commission to do its work and he thought under those circumstances Bolivia should not delay the appointment of delegates but should be one of the first to name them. He asked whether the Secretary would authorize him to make such a statement as coming from the Secretary and the Secretary said that he might do so. The Minister said that possibly his Government was waiting for Paraguay to appoint its delegates, but this would be very unfortunate, as Paraguay would also wait for Bolivia and thus nothing would be accomplished at all. In conclusion he said that he would telegraph his Government immediately on the matter and urge immediate appointment of Bolivian delegates.
The Secretary then mentioned the possibility of ordering the military attachés accredited to Bolivia and Paraguay now at Lima and Buenos Aires to proceed to La Paz and Asunción, where they might be of some service in the exchange of prisoners. The Minister saw no objection to this but thought it might be well first to ascertain whether there were any Paraguayan prisoners to be exchanged. The Secretary said [Page 839] that even if the attaches could not be of any particular assistance in connection with the exchange of prisoners they were accredited to Bolivia and Paraguay and might as well be in those countries as elsewhere, to which the Minister agreed. In conclusion the Secretary said that he was seeing the Paraguayan Chargé d’Affaires a little later and he would speak to him along the same lines.