724.34119/1382: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Argentina (Weddell)
74. For Braden. Your 140, June 3, 7 p.m. Duggan45 saw Estigarribia late Saturday afternoon, and spoke with him along the line of the last paragraph of your telegram under reference. Estigarribia had not received any information with regard to the conference proposal and appeared reluctant to pass on any advice, even to his military friends, until he was fully apprised of the details of it. These details will be brought to General Estigarribia’s attention as soon as he returns from a short visit to New York.
In general, Estigarribia did not seem sanguine as to the success of the present conference proposal. He indicated his belief that Paraguay was being requested to give up too much territory; that the proposal did not take into account the geography and topography of the region, and that Paraguay, which lost lives to acquire what it now controls de facto, would not look favorably upon giving up territory in return for monetary compensation. He did not seem impressed by the attitude the Argentine Government had stated it would take in the event of another conflict, protesting vigorously that no Argentine support had been received during the last war, as he would demonstrate beyond any question in the memoires which he is now preparing.
- Laurence Duggan, Chief of the Division of the American Republics.↩