740.0011 European War 1939/23852
The Brazilian Ambassador (Martins) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary of State: Under instructions of my Government, and in accordance with the procedure adopted and the undertakings assumed in the Pan American Conferences of Buenos Aires and Lima, as well as in the meetings of Foreign Ministers, I have the honor to inform Your Excellency that, on the night; of the fifteenth to sixteenth of the present month, there were torpedoed, twenty miles off the coast of Sergipe, five Brazilian passenger vessels which were plying from one Brazilian port to another carrying, among others, pilgrims on their way to the São Paulo Eucharistic Congress.
- 2.
- One of the vessels, the Baependy, was carrying a troop contingent of one hundred twenty men who were not on the way to any war zone, having simply been transferred from one military region of the country to another.
- 3.
- Prior to this criminal act, with the loss of many lives, there had already been torpedoed by Axis submarines thirteen Brazilian vessels in international traffic.
- 4.
- At that time our attitude was one of simple protest against the violation, in these unnecessary and brutal acts, of the rules of law and of the principles of humanity which govern warfare on the high seas.
- 5.
- On this occasion, where the number of victims was of several hundreds, including women and children, the aggression was directed against our coastwise shipping and was carried into Brazilian waters against essentially peaceful navigation which, by its very nature, is devoid of any objective susceptible of favoring any belligerent nation, even American, or of injuring the interests of any third parties. They were passenger vessels and none was either operating in a war or blockade zone, or could be suspected of carrying cargoes for any of the adversaries of the Axis powers, since their ports of destination were exclusively Brazilian.
- 6.
- Their sinking off the Brazilian coasts is undisputably an act of direct aggression against Brazil and results in the extension of the war to South America.
- 7.
- By virtue of this fact, the Brazilian Government, through the Spanish Embassy and the Swiss Legation, has notified the governments of Germany and Italy that, in spite of its consistently pacific attitude, it is not possible to elude the fact that those countries have practiced against Brazil acts of war, creating a condition of belligerency which we are forced to recognize in the defense of our dignity, of our sovereignty, of our safety and of that of America, and to resist those acts to the extent of our strength.
I avail myself [etc.]