Office of the Historian

710.Consultation(2)/289: Telegram

The Minister in Uruguay (Wilson) to the Secretary of State

Montevideo, July 13, 1940—10 a.m.
[Received 4:30 p.m.]

159. Guani tells me that the Uruguayan delegation to the Habana meeting carries instructions concerning three points in particular:

(1)
To discuss with the other delegations the questions of incompatibility of the exercise of diplomatic functions with those pertaining to representation of a foreign political organization (the case of the Press Attaché of the German Legation here).
(2)
The adoption of a resolution urging that all the American countries prohibit the entrance of belligerent submarines into their ports,
[3?]
Uruguayan representatives to discuss with the other delegations a proposal to extend the limits of territorial waters (see my despatch No. 17.5, February 2350). Regarding this proposal Guani insisted that [Page 223] it did not imply any abandonment of the declaration of Panama. His thought apparently is that, the belligerents having failed to accept the Panama security zone, it might be possible to obtain their acceptance of a smaller security belt on the principle of the extension of the limits of territorial waters while still maintaining on the part of the American states the declaration of Panama. He seems to feel that the British would accept the idea of extending the limits of territorial waters.

He said that the Uruguayan delegation has a copy of the complete report of the parliamentary commission investigating Nazi activities and that it will make this information available to other delegations, feeling that what has been discovered here may assist other governments in taking necessary defense measures.

Wilson
  1. Not printed. See Draft Resolution entitled “Proposition of Uruguay on Extension of Maritime Zone”, enumerated as project No. 34 of the List of the Projects delivered to the Office of the Secretary General, dated July 24, 1940, declared for the extension of the maritime sovereignties of each country, to a minimum distance of 25 miles off their respective shores. (Copy in the Pan American Union.)↩