733.62/12: Telegram
The Minister in Uruguay (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4:20 p.m.]
160. Guani59 informs me that the German Minister59a called on him yesterday afternoon. The Minister began by referring to press accounts of statements concerning the Habana meeting made to the Central American Governments by the German Minister to those countries at which point Guani interrupted by saying that he had considered such action in very bad taste. The German Minister then said that all the German diplomatic representatives in the American Republics had received similar instructions but in order to save susceptibilities they would not press the matter in some countries.
The German Minister then said that so long as the Uruguayan Government had not rectified by some public statement the unfortunate situation which had been created by the publicity given to the investigation of Nazi activities here which had made it appear that these activities constituted a danger to the country the German Government would consider itself offended. (I gather that Guani may try to find some formula to satisfy the German Government.)
The Minister went on to speak of the “new Europe” and the vast economic system to be created in countries under German control, adding that of course Germany could not offer economic advantages to a country which had assumed an unfriendly attitude toward Germany. Guani stated that he had replied that Uruguay had always been able to dispose of its products in the past and he was quite sure that it would find a way to do so satisfactorily in the future.