724.3415/1061
The Chargé in Uruguay (Gade) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received May 8.]
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.]
- Not printed.↩