724.3415/1230c: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Bolivia (Trueblood)
23. On Thursday, June 25, please present following note to Bolivian Government:
“In its note of February 25, 1930 to the five neutral Governments,59 the Government of Bolivia expressed the opinion that prior to any exchange of ideas regarding the fundamental controversy between Bolivia and Paraguay, the decisions of the Commission of Conciliation at Washington should be fulfilled. The note further stated that Bolivia received with pleasure the suggestion of the neutrals to commence conversations between the diplomatic representatives of Bolivia and Paraguay accredited to the Government of the United States of America, and that the conversations of the Bolivian and Paraguayan diplomats taking place in the quiet and propitious atmosphere of Washington, cooperating with those which will be re-opened in La Paz or Asuncion, will give satisfactory results. The Bolivian Government added that it had faith and confidence in this and that if these conversations do not settle the territorial litigation itself they will at least offer in concrete form the necessary material upon which a subsequent arbitration may offer the last word.
The note also stated that the practical means found by the neutrals would probably bring both countries to the terms of an agreement.
The Bolivian Government will recall that the practical means found by the neutrals as set forth in their note of October 1, 1929,60 was:
‘That the wishes of both parties may be met by their agreement to enter immediately into direct negotiations for a settlement, at the same time establishing a Commission composed of members of the five neutral nations represented on the Commission whose labors terminated on September 13th, this Commission to be available not only to take up the work should the direct negotiations unfortunately not succeed but also to render its good offices with a view to overcoming obstacles which may arise during the course of the direct negotiations thereby being in a position perhaps to help those direct negotiations to a successful conclusion.’
Furthermore, in their note of January 9, 1930,61 to the Bolivian Government, the five neutral Governments stated that:
‘Noting with pleasure that the Government of Bolivia expects to inform them of its acceptance of their offer of good offices, should the direct negotiations fail, the five Governments are glad to state their readiness to appoint at that time members to form a friendly neutral Commission whose good offices it hopes will be of service to the two Governments concerned. In the meantime, in order that their services may be the more easily available to the two contending Governments, they take pleasure in stating that they are willing that their diplomatic representatives in Washington keep in touch with the situation as it develops in order that when proper they may be utilized for the organization [Page 726] of the Commission in question which shall be composed of delegates especially appointed thereto.’
The Governments of Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Cuba and the United States of America have seen with the greatest satisfaction that through the instrumentality of the Uruguayan Government, as requested in the resolution of September 12, 1929,62 of the Commission of Conciliation at Washington, not only were diplomatic relations renewed between Bolivia and Paraguay but also the remaining stipulation of the Act of Conciliation signed September 12, 1929, was accomplished on July 23, 1930,63 by the return of Forts Boqueron and Vanguardia to Paraguay and Bolivia respectively, thus removing the obstacle which Bolivia stated it found to going forward with the discussion of the fundamental question at issue.
The neutral Governments have now received a note dated April 20, 1931, from the Paraguayan Government in which the latter states that seeing in the good offices so kindly offered a new opportunity to put forth its efforts to find a solution of all questions relative to the boundary dispute, it ratifies the acceptance which it gave to the neutral offer of October 1, 1929. The Paraguayan Government states that with the assumption of power by a constitutional Government in Bolivia it believes that the moment has arrived to know whether the good offices offered by the neutral Governments are to be carried into practice.
The neutral Governments have also been gratified to receive the circular of April 11, last, from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bolivia in which he states that the Government of Bolivia accepted the good offices again offered at the close of 1929 by the five neutral Governments represented at Washington in case the direct negotiations should not succeed, and is willing not to neglect any procedure in order to reach an amicable adjustment of the Chaco question. The circular adds that the only thing that can put Bolivia and Paraguay on the road to definitive peace and a solution of such complex and difficult questions in this dispute would be to take up with good-will between the chancelleries a preliminary plan for attempting, before everything else, the supreme effort of direct understanding and of arbitration, and to guarantee in the meantime non-aggression, increasing harmony and the certainty of juridical solutions.
The five neutral Governments, in view of the fact that the Bolivian and Paraguayan Governments seem to be in accord in their desires in the matter, have the honor to enquire whether the Bolivian Government is now disposed to authorize its diplomatic representative in Washington to enter into negotiations regarding the settlement of the outstanding territorial and frontier difficulties in the Chaco, such negotiations to be supplemented by such further negotiations between the diplomatic representatives of Bolivia and Paraguay in Asuncion and La Paz, respectively, as the two Governments may deem advantageous. The neutral Governments at the same time renew their readiness to have their diplomatic representatives in Washington keep in touch with the situation as it develops in order that when proper they [Page 727] may be utilized for the organization of a Commission which should be composed of delegates especially appointed thereto.
It is of course not the view of the neutral Governments that the Commission suggested in their notes of October 1, 1929 and January 9, 1930 should have any powers other than may be accorded to it by the Governments of Bolivia and Paraguay but that the good offices of the Commission should at all times be available in an endeavor to bring the two parties to a direct accord. Pending the formation of a Commission, the diplomatic representatives of the neutral Governments in Washington will be happy to be of any possible service to the two Governments to this end.
A copy of this note is being delivered to the Paraguayan Government and a copy of the answer to the Paraguayan note of April 20, 1931, is enclosed herewith for the information of the Bolivian Government.”
The Paraguayan note is as follows:
[Here follows the text of the note to Paraguay quoted in telegram No. 20, June 22, 7 p.m., to the Chargé in Paraguay, printed infra.]
- See telegram No. 16, February 27, 1930, 5 p.m., from the Chargé in Bolivia, Foreign Relations, 1930, vol. i, p. 338.↩
- See circular telegram of September 23, 1929, 6 p.m., to the American diplomatic representatives in Bolivia and Paraguay, ibid., 1929, vol. i, p. 903, and telegram No. 57, September 30, 1929, 10 a.m., to the Chargé in Bolivia, ibid., p. 905.↩
- See ibid., pp. 927–933, and telegram No. 2, January 6, 1930, 5 p.m., to the Chargé in Bolivia, ibid., 1930, vol. i, p. 327.↩
- See telegram No. 50, September 12, 1929, to the Chargé in Bolivia, Foreign Relations, 1929, vol. i, p. 860.↩
- See telegram No. 51, July 24, 1930, 5 p.m., from the Chargé in Bolivia, ibid., 1930, vol. i, p. 327.↩