862.857/154
The Minister in Uruguay (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 28.]
Sir: The protest transmitted in the name of the twenty-one American Republics by the President of Panama to the King of Great Britain concerning the Wakama incident has attracted little attention in the Montevideo press. Only two papers, El País and El Plata (both Blanco Independiente), commented editorially. The two articles were very similar being mainly restatements of the now familiar critical attitude of Uruguayan opinion, official and private, concerning the Declaration of Panama. The article in El País stated in part:
“These continual protests about questions of scant importance, such as the present one, and which are inevitable during a war, that take place within a zone in which the three European belligerents have declined to recognize the alleged right of the American Republics, serve no useful purpose whatsoever and only have the effect of embittering the relations of the countries of America and those of Europe.
“Since the breakdown (sic) of the doctrine of the 300 miles, it would seem advisable to consider whether we are not taking steps in the wrong direction and playing lightly with the prestige of American diplomacy with these protests resting upon the basis of a unilateral declaration lacking absolutely any juridical foundation.”
I might add that in a conversation the other night with Dr. Pedro Manini Rios, who headed the Uruguayan delegation at the Panama [Page 714] Conference, lie referred to the general feeling of dislike for the Panama Declaration which exists in Uruguay and remarked, as if in excuse of the part he had played in signing the Declaration, that when the project was first introduced at Panama he had cabled Dr. Guani40a for instructions; Dr. Guani had replied vaguely leaving the question entirely to Dr. Manini’s judgment; he had therefore “simply gone along with the others”, although he had at the time, so he said, entertained doubts as to the wisdom of adopting the Declaration.
Respectfully yours,
- Alberto Guani, Uruguayan Minister for Foreign Affairs.↩