Office of the Historian

710. Consultation 3/489: Telegram

The Chargé in Bolivia (Dawson) to the Secretary of State

La Paz, January 26, 1942—8 p.m.
[Received 11:55 p.m.]

40. Following telegram has been sent to the Embassy, Rio de Janeiro.

“January 26, 8 p.m. For the Under Secretary.1 Your January 24, 5 p.m. Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs2 this afternoon showed me telegram sent yesterday to Bolivian Minister for Foreign Affairs3 in Rio de Janeiro authorizing him to announce that Bolivian Government confirmed its intention to break off relations with Axis Powers. Telegram went on to tell Anze he should secure following commitments from you as preliminary to issuance of decree enacting rupture used [sic].

1.
Guarantee that United States would protect Bolivia from aggression by Axis Powers against the ‘other nations’.
2.
Increase in capital of Bolivian Development Corporation4 to ‘at least $40,000,000’.
3.
Increase in prices for Bolivian minerals sold to Metals Reserve and substitution of f.o.b. Chilean ports for c.i.f. United States ports in tin contract.5

Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs stated to me that actual breach would take place within 2 or 3 days if these conditions were met. It seems obvious that Anze exceeded instructions in his speech at Plenary session announcing rupture …

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I have an interview with the President6 at 11 a.m. tomorrow at which I shall endeavor to present matters in such a light as to secure [Page 516] immediate issuance of decree breaking relations. Will submit full report thereafter.

Repeated to Department as my 40, January 26, 8 p.m.”

Dawson
  1. Sumner Welles was representing the United States at the Third Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the American Republics at Rio de Janeiro, January 15–28, 1942; for correspondence on this Meeting, see pp. 6 ff.↩
  2. Justo Rodas Eguino.↩
  3. Eduardo Anze Matienzo.↩
  4. For correspondence concerning this Corporation, see section entitled “Program for economic cooperation between the United States and Bolivia”, pp. 592 ff.↩
  5. See Foreign Relations, 1940, vol. v, pp. 524 ff.↩
  6. Gen. Enrique Peñaranda y del Castillo.↩