710.H Agenda/27
The Minister in the Dominican Republic (Norweb) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 28.]
Sir: I have the honor to inform the Department that the Dominican Republic and Colombia will jointly on March 1 deposit with the Pan American Union at Washington a draft proposal for consideration at the forthcoming Lima Conference of a proposed League of American Nations.
The placing of this item on the agenda of the Lima Conference does not, however, so far as Dominican Republic is concerned, indicate any burning zeal to see a Pan American league of nations instantly realized. It would appear that the Dominican Republic is redeeming its promise made at the Buenos Aires Peace Conference in December, 1936, whereby it agreed to support the project of Sr. Soto del Corral17 for a Pan American League; but it is clearly realized in governmental circles here that the realization of such an international organization is not for the immediate future.
The Dominican Foreign Secretary, Mr. Ortega Frier, told me this morning that the idea of a Pan American League of Nations was more an aspiration, an ideal than a concrete program for adoption at the Lima Conference. He said the proposal needed to be worked out and [Page 13] that if such a plan were eventually placed into effect it would be the outcome of a generation of development, motivated largely by the necessity of small nations seeking strength through union.
Respectfully yours,
- Jorge Soto del Corral, Chairman of the Colombian delegation to the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace, Buenos Aires, December 1–23, 1936.↩