Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1935, The American Republics, Volume IV

724.34119/157: Telegram

The Ambassador in Argentina (Weddell) to the Secretary of State

Buenos Aires, September 5, 1935—3 p.m.
[Received 4:30 p.m.]

197. From Dawson.

1. In further conversations Zubizarreta has maintained an immovable stand that Paraguay cannot even discuss letting Bolivia have anything more on the Paraguay River than the strip ceded to her by Brazil in the Treaty of Petropolis,^82a i. e. the few miles between Otuquis River and the Brazilian frontier. Attempts to get him to define a boundary line which would be acceptable to Paraguay as a basis for discussion have only resulted in vague statements that it would have to start from the innermost part of the Bahia Negra inlet (into which the Otuquis empties) and that he could not express an opinion on such points as the direction of the line or its western extremity without consulting his Government. He has undertaken to do this.

2. It is my impression that the reply will involve extreme demands for use as a bargaining point in pressing for acceptance of the Paraguayan thesis as to the eastern point of departure of the boundary line.

3. I trust that I have made it clear that the recent mediatory discussions have been purely informal soundings and that there is no intention of presenting any formal proposal to the parties unless and until the possibilities of the present course are exhausted. [Dawson.]

Weddell

1. Signed November 17, 1903, British and Foreign State Papers, vol. 96, p. 383; for Spanish text see Bolivia, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores: Tratados Vigentes, 1825–1925, Anexos (Bolivia, Litografias e Imprentas Unidas, 1925), tomo 1, p. 150.