724.34119/216: Telegram
The Ambassador in Argentina (Weddell) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:45 p.m.]
232. From Gibson. My 230, October 4, 11 p.m. Have gone over tentative draft proposal with the mediatory delegates, all of whom feel it offers the only practicable course of action and express themselves in favor of pressing it as expeditiously as possible. At meeting with Saavedra Lamas this morning, it was agreed that it should be drafted in final form with several minor additions of a helpful character.
For consideration in connection with the proposal, I venture briefly to outline the background and contemplated procedure.
The suggestion of a definite line by the mediators has grown out of conversations carried on for some weeks past with both the Paraguayans and Bolivians and seems to be the only way for dealing with the problem, since neither party will make any proposal embodying anything less than its extreme claims. It would obviously be much easier for them to accept a suggestion from the mediators giving them less than their maximum aspirations than to give favorable consideration to anything put forward by their opponents. On the territorial question, the plan is based on the concessions which each party has indicated in conversations it would be prepared to make in the final analysis (see my 194, September 2, 9 p.m.) and acts between the minimum positions which they have outlined.
Under the proposal, while Paraguay would retain the greater part of the territory in dispute, it would give up a substantial part of the interior now occupied by it; Bolivia would further secure territory in the east which was in Paraguayan possession before the outbreak of hostilities. Bolivia would not only gain access to the stretch along the Paraguay River ceded to her by Brazil under the Treaty of Petropolis but would also get a few additional kilometres of river bank, previously in Paraguayan possession, including a point called Puerto Caballo, just above Bahia Negra, which is reported to be as practicable for port purposes as the latter. She would thus have her “psychological” port without her access to the river being of such a nature as to be dangerous to Paraguay. In this connection, it is proposed to include in the plan a provision for neutralization of a zone on both sides of the frontier.
The territorial proposal should be considered in conjunction with the third point in the plan of a free port at Puerto Casado and transit facilities. The Paraguayans, in the course of our conversations, agreed to make definite concessions of this character and this [Page 156] phase of the settlement is of greater practical importance than the possession of Puerto Caballo.
In this connection, it is proposed to have a separate protocol specifying certain transit rights, free zones and other facilities to be granted to both countries by Brazil and Argentina, contingent upon acceptance of the agreement.
The mediators are agreed that the most effective course would be to time operations in such a way that at a given hour, (1) the proposal should be handed to the two delegations here with a carefully prepared statement from the chairman of the Conference on behalf of the mediators urging the desirability of acceptance; (2) representatives of the Conference should hand the document to the Presidents of Bolivia and Paraguay and urge its careful consideration and prompt acceptance; and (3) the mediating governments should direct their diplomatic representatives in La Paz and Asunción to press for favorable consideration. We consider it essential to provide that the document be placed in the hands of the two Presidents in view of our experience when the August 10th proposal on prisoners of war was presented.
The time element is essential for the Neutral Military Commission will arrive on Monday to make its report and unless there is something in this to justify delay, we shall be pressed by the Bolivians to declare the war at an end. The presentation of the proposal for general settlement would be the most effective way for dealing with this pressure.
I shall be glad to have your comments as soon as possible. [Gibson.]