724.3415/3469: Telegram
The Ambassador in Argentina (Weddell) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received 8:20 p.m.]
4. Today I have notified the Secretary of State at Santiago as follows:
January 4, 3 p.m. For the Secretary of State.
Have just received visit from Castro Rojas7 and Escalier, Bolivian Minister in Montevideo who request me to transmit to you the following message:
“Bolivia has accepted the arbitration of law proposed by the League of Nations. Paraguay has rejected it, excluding from arbitration the Hayes Zone,8 the shore of the River Paraguay, and all the hinterland of the river—practically all of the Chaco. Paraguay aspires to impose on Bolivia the humiliating conditions of customs control and demilitarization for 10 years. On this basis peace is impossible. We desire that Mr. Hull should contribute to the pacification of the Chaco by means of arbitration and consulting the dignity and sovereignty of Bolivia.”
Rojas states League office here advises receipt last night of telegram from its President in Asunción saying nor Congress, nor Government, nor public opinion, favor arbitration in form proposed by League. Rojas is at Alvear Palace Hotel here.
- Bolivian Minister to Argentina.↩
- See Award of November 12, 1878, Foreign Relations, 1878, p. 711.↩