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  4. Document 57

710.G/372: Telegram

The Chairman of the American Delegation to the Seventh International Conference of American States ( Hull ) to the Acting Secretary of State

Montevideo , December 1, 1933—11 p.m.
[Received 11:30 p.m.]

19. I commenced today informal calls on Ministers of Foreign Affairs and heads of delegations preaching harmony and teamwork which would eliminate from consideration the minor and trouble-making provisions on the agenda. Had satisfactory talks with Mañé,92 Cruchaga93 and Puig.94 Conference at plenary session95 next Monday is expected to divide into eight commissions according to chapters of programme and I believe it will be possible to put aside unimportant topics and get down to discussions of fundamental subjects when commissions begin their work, which it is expected will be next Tuesday morning. There appears to be a desire not to sit longer than about 3 weeks.

Although the question of the Chaco96 will not, from present indications, come before the Conference I have received indications that some of the responsible representatives of important countries are already beginning unofficial conversations with heads of delegations with a view to effecting some arrangement transformed into the Conference which would result in at least an abatement of the hostilities and which would lend substantial support to the efforts of the League Commission to find a solution. There is a very evident realization that such a result would itself be one of the successes of our meeting here and would create an improved atmosphere. We are not participating in this movement but we are in individual conversations urging that the countries proximate to the warring countries take the lead in actions leading to a cessation of hostilities.

Hull
  1. Alberto Mañé, Uruguayan Minister for Foreign Affairs, President of the Seventh International Conference of American States.↩
  2. Miguel Cruchaga Tocornal, Chilean Minister for Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Chilean delegation to the Conference.↩
  3. José Manuel Puig Casauranc, Mexican Minister for Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Mexican delegation to the Conference.↩
  4. See Seventh International Conference of American States, Minutes and Antecedents with Index.↩
  5. See pp. 241 ff.↩