Office of the Historian

724.3415/2038: Telegram

The Bolivian Minister for Foreign Affairs (Gutiérrez) to the Secretary of State

[Translation]
La Paz, August 12, 1932.
[Received 1:23 a.m.]

We have received the cablegram dated the 9th instant, in which the representatives of the five neutral countries, after some observations concerning statements in previous cables, ask us four questions as bases for the immediate cessation of hostilities. Without entering into the examination of said considerations, with not all of which we are in agreement, we reply in the following terms:

  • First: Bolivia reaffirms her counterview of taking as a basis for the cessation of hostilities the state of things existing at the moment of the agreement in conformity with the practices of international law, and takes the liberty of observing that on June 1, 1932, there was no juridical situation in the Chaco, as Their Excellencies, the representatives of the neutral governments appear to believe.
  • Second: A pact having once been made for the suspension of hostilities, Bolivia agrees to open negotiations for the solution of the fundamentals of the controversy by means of an arbitration juris concerning limited zone, or other friendly arrangement within the period proposed by the neutrals.
  • Third: Bolivia does not agree to abandon the fortines taken from Paraguay. Neither the government nor the sentiment of the nation can consent to such abandonment until a final solution modifies the sovereignty of the said positions. As to the number of effectives serving as a guard, only such would be retained as would appear to Bolivia indispensable to her security.
  • Fourth: In anticipation of the friction which might occur subsequent to the agreement for cessation of hostilities and prior to the settlement of the fundamentals of the controversy, Bolivia might agree to the establishment of some impartial entity which would eliminate the possible difficulties.

Julio A. Gutiérrez