710.Consultation(2)/416: Telegram
The Minister in Uruguay (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:12 p.m.]
170. My 167, July 20, 6 p.m.64 Guani told me this morning that I could transmit the following as the reply of the Uruguayan Government to the proposals contained in your circular telegram July 11, 5 p.m.:
The Uruguayan Government accepts in its general lines and in its substance the draft convention; as regards the draft resolution, it would be helpful to obtain the acceptance of the greatest possible number of the American States. Guani said that he was instructing the Uruguayan delegation at Habana in this sense, asking them for information as to how the delegations were lining up on the draft resolution.
Guani said that his meeting yesterday morning with the parliamentary group of the Colorado Party had been entirely satisfactory. The President of the Republic65 had attended and had declared that it should be the policy of the Uruguayan Government to cooperate fully and frankly in the present emergency with the United States Government. This statement received the approval of the group.
Yesterday afternoon Guani appeared before a secret session of the Chamber of Deputies. The Nationalists (Herreristas) raised no objection to draft convention because of the fact that it would have to come before the Parliament later for ratification. They were, [Page 238] however, flatly opposed to the draft resolution on the ground that it would enter into immediate effect and might commit Uruguay to a course of action leading to war. Guani has not yet consulted with the Senate, but there, where half the seats are held by the Nationalists, the opposition to the resolution will be even stronger. It is in order to combat this opposition that Guani considers it highly important that an overwhelming majority of the American States accept the resolution.