Office of the Historian

740.00111 A.R./1074: Telegram

The Ambassador in Brazil (Caffery) to the Secretary of State

Rio de Janeiro, May 15, 1940—2 p.m.
[Received 3:52 p.m.]

219. Aranha received a telegram from his Ambassador at Buenos Aires97 reporting that Cantilo told him last night he now considers the Argentine neutrality suggestions as “dead and liquidated.”

Cantilo suggested an added paragraph to the Uruguayan protest which Rodríguez Alves considered unacceptable. Cantilo then said that the Argentine would not support the Uruguayan proposal unless some addition suggested by the Argentine were accepted and suggested [Page 768] the addition beginning “and reserve the right to take measures necessary for the defense of their internal as well as their external interests” with which I assume the Department is conversant.98

Bolivian Ambassador perceives no objection to this suggested addition.

Repeated to Buenos Aires.

Caffery
  1. José de Paula Rodríguez Alves.↩
  2. See telegram No. 69, May 15, 11 a.m., from the Minister in Uruguay, p. 732.↩