724.3415/1230b: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Paraguay (Horn)
20. On Thursday, June 25, please present following note to Paraguayan Government:
“The Governments of Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Cuba and the United States of America have received with pleasure the note of the Paraguayan Government of April 20, 1931, ratifying its acceptance of the offer made by the neutral Governments to the Paraguayan and Bolivian Governments on April [October?] 1, 1929, and stating that the assumption of power in Bolivia of a constitutional Government has removed any reason for halting the good offices of the neutral Governments and requesting the neutral Governments to inform it if these good offices should now be made effective.
In its note of February 25, 1930 to the five neutral Governments, 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 [Page 728] 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 practical means found by the neutrals as set forth in their note of October 1, 1929, 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, 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 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, of the Commission of Conciliation at Washington, not only were diplomatic relations renewed between Paraguay and Bolivia but also the remaining stipulation of the Act of Conciliation signed September 12, 1929, was accomplished on July 23, 1930, 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 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.
[Page 729]The five neutral Governments, in view of the fact that the Paraguayan and Bolivian Governments seem to be in accord in their desires in the matter, have the honor to enquire whether the Paraguayan 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 Paraguay and Bolivia in La Paz and Asuncion, 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 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 Paraguay and Bolivia 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 Bolivian Government and a copy of the note sent to the Bolivian Government today is enclosed herewith for the information of the Paraguayan Government.”
The Bolivian note is as follows:
[Here follows the text of the note to Bolivia quoted in telegram No. 23, June 22, 7 p.m., to the Chargé in Bolivia, printed supra.]