833.24/111: Telegram
The Ambassador in Uruguay ( Dawson ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:53 p.m.]
489. My despatch 248 of October 24.14 The proposed Lend-Lease Agreement with Uruguay after approval by the Chamber of Deputies is still pending in the Senate. While it has not come up for discussion the Herreristas15 have announced that they will oppose it and are doing so violently in their organ El Debate.
The financial clauses were summarized in the Government’s message to Congress which accompanied my despatch number 248. Publication of the full text of the agreement had not been considered advisable by Guani. However, El Debate and Tribuna Popular which is likewise unfriendly to the United States have now published the [Page 558] full text and claim that it contains provisions prejudicial to Uruguay. In particular they have seized upon the clauses providing for the furnishing of defense information and for suspension by the United States of deliveries at our option.
Guani tells me that he did not authorize publication and that he believes that El Debate obtained the text from some Herrerista member of Congress who copied it in Committee. While he is extremely annoyed with the Herreristas he says that from an international standpoint too much importance should not be attached to their attitude which he ascribed primarily to their desire of embarrassing the Government and of bringing pressure on it for domestic political reasons. While I believe the Herreristas interested principally in the domestic situation it is worthy of note that there has been a marked recrudescence of hostility to the United States on their part during the past few days coinciding with increased world tension and following a visit of three Herrerista members of Congress to Buenos Aires to attend a banquet for Admiral Scassox.