724.3415/3830: Telegram
The Minister in Bolivia (Des Portes) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:50 a.m.]
35. This forenoon Foreign Minister requested me to call Department’s attention to Minister Finot’s protest being made that arms ordered before embargo were yesterday held at New York in spite of assurance previously given Finot by the Department that embargo not retroactive.
This morning’s newspapers comment Department’s reply to Finot’s protest of 1st June regarding violation of the treaty by embargo in milder terms than expected after recent editorials, stating American [Page 295] note is ambiguous, subtle and evasive in desire to help Paraguay against Bolivia; viewpoint being that embargo was intended to help Paraguay to easy victory.