824.01/61: Telegram

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

105. I today communicated to the Minister for Foreign Affairs the pertinent portions of the Department’s telegram No. 57 of July 19, 7 p.m.

Referring to the precedent created in the case of the recognition of the present Government in Paraguay, he said that this in a sense tended to force the hand of interested governments in considering recognition of the new Bolivian Government. However, in view of all the circumstances, recognition of the latter by his Government would follow in the next 3 or 4 days; he added that recognition should not be accorded automatically as the action of Peru would seem to imply, as the Bolivian Army is not the country.

As Argentina has no diplomatic representative at present in La Paz, no such note as received by us has been sent to his Government but the Bolivian Minister here had written in much broader terms asserting the intention of his Government to observe the Chaco protocols; these latter the Minister for Foreign Affairs emphasized as being of primary importance. The Argentine Minister considers the pledges made by that [the?] Bolivian Minister on behalf of his Government as adequate in the matter of protocols. He said he would send me tomorrow the text of the note which he was addressing to the Bolivian Minister here.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs is of the opinion that the new Government is reasonably good and stable and therefore thinks it will survive. He considers the new Foreign Minister a fairly good choice and thinks that the new Government may hope for a reasonable measure of popular support.

Weddell