Office of the Historian

724.34119/535: Telegram

The Chargé in Argentina (Cox) to the Secretary of State

Buenos Aires, August 7, 1936—9 p.m.
[Received 10:40 p.m.]

157. From Braden. My 147, July 26, 1 p.m.34

1.
The Conference has secured the verbal agreement of the Bolivian and Paraguayan delegations who state that their respective Governments unquestionably will approve the following, which we expect to formalize next week as soon as the necessary documents may be drafted:
(a)
The Conference will declare repatriation virtually (or an equivalent adverb) terminated35 and will deliver the 2,400,000 pesos to Paraguay.36
(b)
Two subcommissions of the Special Repatriation Commission to be located in La Paz and Asunción and each to be composed of one Bolivian and one Paraguayan officer, plus the mediatory nations’ Military Attachés in those capitals, will be instructed by the Conference to continue the concentration and repatriation of any prisoners who still may remain in either country. The Paraguayan Government will give the Asunción subcommission every cooperation and full freedom to search for prisoners throughout Paraguay. It is impossible to estimate accurately how many Bolivians remain in Paraguay, but the number is probably somewhere between 100 and 1000. Only eight Paraguayans remain in Bolivia. This measure is necessary in order to assure the Bolivian Government and public that nothing will be left undone to effect the total repatriation of all prisoners and at the same time to satisfy the urgent desires of the Paraguayan Government for the money wherewith to meet its pressing financial requirements.
(c)
Simultaneously with (a) and (b) an appropriate Conference act will be signed by both parties and the mediators stipulating that: (1) the neutral zone comprehended within the lines of separation, including the Villa Montes road, and the policing of the neutral zone will be placed under the sole and absolute control of the Conference; [Page 57] (2) no armed forces whatsoever will be permitted to enter the neutral zone; (3) the armed forces in the areas adjacent to the neutral zone will be reduced to the lowest practicable minimum; (4) the total armed forces in each country shall be reduced within the 5,000 limit established in the June 12 and January 21 protocols. Also this Conference act will fix an early date for the renewal of diplomatic relations.
2.
Furthermore, we will endeavor to include in this agreement a protocol eliminating any further consideration of the responsibilities question referred to in article I, paragraph 7 of the June 12 protocol. If we are successful in this we will have disposed of all the most pressing, irritating and dangerous problems leaving as the only major issue the fundamental territorial question which then may be pursued under the improved atmosphere which should be created by this agreement.
3.
The Paraguayan delegates categorically have reiterated the complete confidence of their Government in the mediators and its determination to reach a definite settlement of the territorial question through the continuous orderly deliberations of the Conference, but they request that these discussions should not be unduly hurried in order that their Government may have time in which to form a public opinion favorable to a final territorial settlement.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

  • [Braden]
  • Cox
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. See The Chaco Peace Conference, p. 102; or La Conferencia de Paz del Chaco, p. 212.↩
  3. See La Conferencia de Paz del Chaco, p. 213.↩