833.00/671: Telegram
The Minister in Uruguay (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4:16 p.m.]
88. For the Secretary and the Under Secretary. The situation is deteriorating here; the Government is well meaning but weak, undecided and confused; things are drifting; people are climbing on the Nazi band wagon; an armed movement is a possibility.
My estimate of the way thinking people here regard the situation is as follows: Unless the United States intervenes effectively and without delay in the struggle against Nazism, it must be expected that these countries—certainly Uruguay—will fall under Nazi controlled regimes. The standing aside of the United States in the face of increasing indications of a Hitler victory over Britain and France and [Page 1152] of the entrance of Italy into the war leads people to feel that the United States either is blind to the dangers confronting it and South America or else is too weak to give effective assistance. This encourages the pro-Nazi elements and disheartens those who still are prepared to combat them.