724.3415/1061

The Chargé in Uruguay (Gade) to the Acting Secretary of State

No. 1018

Sir: In confirmation of my telegram No. 25 of April 4 (1930) 5 p.m.,46 I have the honor to report that the protocol according the Uruguayan Government sufficient authority to give its officers instructions with respect to carrying out the terms of Article 5 of the protocol of Washington and setting May first as the date for the renewal of diplomatic relations between Bolivia and Paraguay, was signed by the Bolivian and Paraguayan Ministers and the Uruguayan Minister for Foreign Affairs in Montevideo on the fourth instant.

Copies of the Spanish text of the protocol and an English translation thereof are enclosed for the information of the Department.

In this connection it will be observed that several slight changes in wording have been made in the protocol as finally signed.

As reported in my telegram No. 11, of March tenth, the Uruguayan Minister for Foreign Affairs on March tenth submitted to the Ministers of Bolivia and Paraguay a draft protocol (For text see my telegram No. 12 of March 14, 6 p.m.) providing that Bolivia and Paraguay grant the Uruguayan Government ample authority to give [Page 325] instructions to its officers with respect to the fulfillment of the terms of the protocol of Washington and fixing April 10, 1930, as the date for the renewal of diplomatic relations. This proposal was accepted by Paraguay on March 14th. On March 18th the Bolivian Government authorized its Minister to sign the protocol but with slight changes in wording and amending it to fix May first instead of April 10th as the date for the renewal of diplomatic relations. The Paraguayan Minister, Dr. Higinio Arbo, agreed that the changes in wording were immaterial but objected to the date May first as being too distant, and declared that he would have to submit the text of the Bolivian acceptance to his government.

In an interview on March 27th, the Uruguayan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senor Dominguez, informed me that the Paraguayan Government had not yet replied … He felt that the date May first was not unreasonable in view of the fact that the ministers would need a short time to wind up their affairs before proceeding to their respective posts. While no objections to the wording had been received from the Paraguayan Government, Senor Dominguez had confidentially learned from the Uruguayan Chargé d’Affaires at Asuncion that such would probably be made. He expressed keen disappointment and disapproval over the Paraguayan attitude and informed me that if the Paraguayan Government did not accept, the Uruguayan Government would make no further efforts in the matter.

The Diario del Plata, a Nacionalista newspaper of Montevideo, on March 28th contained an editorial criticizing Paraguay for not replying. On the following day the Paraguayan Minister in an open letter answered that his government had sent a reply but owing to his absence in Buenos Aires it had not been delivered. He presented the Paraguayan acceptance with slight changes in wording to the Minister for Foreign Affairs the same day (My telegram No. 20, March 29, 1930).

As already stated, the protocol was duly signed on April fourth. After the ceremony, which was attended by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Bolivian and Paraguayan Ministers, the Uruguayan Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the Chief of Protocol, General Ruprecht, Senor Sampognaro, the two majors assigned to proceed to the Chaco, and others; the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Bolivian and Paraguayan Ministers requested me to express the warm thanks of their respective governments to my government for its friendly interest and assistance in the matter and for the services of its Chargé d’Affaires here.

I have [etc.]

Gerhard Gade
[Page 326]
[Enclosure—Translation]

Act of April 4, 1930, Signed on Behalf of Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay

On April fourth, nineteen hundred and thirty, convened in the office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Don Rufino T. Dominguez, and in his presence, the Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary of Bolivia and Paraguay, Doctors Alberto Diez de Medina and Higinio Arbo, respectively, with the object of continuing the Conversation begun on November thirteenth last, regarding the instructions which should be furnished the Uruguayan officers who in accordance with the fifth article of the resolution drafted by the Commission of Investigation and Conciliation Bolivia and Paraguay, should proceed to Forts Vanguardia and Boquerón, both diplomats declare that “with the purpose of hastening the execution of the stipulations of the Bolivian-Paraguayan protocol signed in Washington on September 12, 1929, the Governments of both countries agree: To accord the Government of Uruguay sufficient authority in order that it may give the instructions to the officers whom it is to designate, in accordance with Article 5 of the resolution, to be present at the execution of the terms of the same, those instructions having to be in conformity with the provisions and text of the above-mentioned resolution of September 12, 1929.” Both diplomats further agree that in view of the friendly suggestions offered by the Government of Uruguay, the Governments of Paraguay and Bolivia resolved to fix the date of May first next for the effective renewal of diplomatic relations between both, designating the respective Chiefs of Mission, with the request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay that it be good enough to obtain from the two Governments the agréments for the appointment of the persons who are to carry out the said duties. The Minister for Foreign Affairs thanks the Governments of Bolivia and Paraguay in the persons of their present worthy representatives, in the name of the President of the Republic, Doctor Juan Campisteguy, and in his own, for the proof of confidence shown to Uruguay. The Minister for Foreign Affairs also expresses in the name of the President of the Republic and in his own, their hearty congratulations to the Governments of Paraguay and Bolivia, as well as to the Ministers Doctors Higinio Arbo and Alberto Diez de Medina, on the agreement concluded, and very especially desires to put on record the good will evinced by both parties from the time this agreement was initiated, as the intention invariably inspired by the sincere desire to reach friendly solutions was shown in the Bolivian and Paraguayan points of view which were unfolded during the debate.

[Page 327]

In faith of which and for due record, these presents are signed on the date above indicated, the Minister for Foreign Affairs ordering certified copies thereof to be furnished to the Ministers of Bolivia and Paraguay.

  • Alberto Diez de Medina
  • Higinio Arbo
  • Rufino T. Dominguez
  1. Not printed.