Office of the Historian

824.00/60a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Argentina (Weddell)14

Washington, July 19, 1937—7 p.m.

57. Please call on the Foreign Minister at an early moment and inform him that your Government is desirous of consulting with him and learning his views with regard to the desirability of recognizing the new Bolivian Government, in this respect following the desirable precedent created in the case of recognition of the present Government in Paraguay,15 as well as of the Toro Government in Bolivia.16 You should inform the Minister that you assume that the diplomatic envoy of his Government in La Paz received a note similar to that received by our Legation, in which the Bolivian Acting Foreign Minister states that “the Government of Bolivia will continue, as until today, maintaining the most cordial relations with that which you represent”. You should then state that your Government will be most appreciative of learning his views and intentions with respect to this note.

In the ensuing discussions you may state that it is the opinion of this Government that the statement issued by Colonel Busch at the time he assumed office, which has been reiterated by the Bolivian Minister here, fully covers the Bolivian intention to respect its international obligations, which would cover the Chaco protocols17 Please make inquiry, however, as to the Minister’s opinion with regard to the stability of the new Government, its composition and authority, and the measure of popular support which it would seem to possess.

A somewhat similar telegram is being sent to the missions at Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, and Santiago.18

Hull
  1. The same, mutatis mutandis, July 19, 7 p.m., to the Minister in Uruguay as telegram No. 15, and July 19, 8 p.m., to the Chargé in Brazil as telegram No. 46.↩
  2. See Foreign Relations, 1936, vol. v, pp. 858 ff.↩
  3. See ibid., pp. 220 ff.↩
  4. The protocols of June 12, 1935, and January 21, 1936, signed at Buenos Aires, provided for the solution of the Chaco conflict between Bolivia and Paraguay. For texts, see telegram No. 71, June 9, 1935, from the Ambassador in Argentina, Foreign Relations, 1935, vol. iv, p. 73; and despatch No. 104, January 21, 1936, from the American delegate to the Chaco Peace Conference, ibid., 1936, vol. v, p. 35.↩
  5. See telegram No. 30, July 19, 7 p.m., to the Ambassador in Chile, infra.↩