740.0011 European War 1939/25215: Telegram
The Ambassador in Uruguay (Dawson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:44 p.m.]
949. Department’s 657, November 1, 1 p.m. Guani’s reaction to the Department’s proposal is favorable and he stresses his desire to take any action considered necessary by our Government. He expressed reservations on the following three points:
- (1)
- In conversations with Fernández prior to the latter’s departure, Guani discussed with him the course of action outlined in Embassy’s telegram 928 of October 26.36 The proposed publication would, of course, interfere with Fernández declared plans and might alter those plans.
- (2)
- The document delivered to the Government of Chile on the 30th of June should not normally be published without its consent.
- (3)
- Committee procedures required that the publication receive the prior approval of the majority of the Committee.
Guani is prepared to proceed with the following plans for publication notwithstanding the first reservation since he feels that our Government must have convincing information that this course is necessary. In order to meet the second and third reservations, he suggests the following procedure with which Spaeth agrees:
A special meeting of Committee will be called for tomorrow. At the meeting Guani will state that on Monday Spaeth advised him that when our Government transmitted its memorandum of June 30, to Barros Jarpa,37 it also sent a copy to its member on the Committee. At that time it was not believed that presentation of the document to the Committee would be necessary, but it was believed important that the American member be fully informed in the event that Committee action proved desirable. It is now the position of the American member that the political defense of the hemisphere requires that the Committee have full cognizance of the document and that the document be released for publication by Committee after a reading of the document to the Committee, Guani will state that in his opinion knowledge of the facts by all of the people of the Americas is imperative for hemisphere defense. Upon approval by the Committee, publication will follow immediately.
Guani and Spaeth agree that approval of the publication by the members from Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela should be secured before the special meeting is called, and Guani has authorized Spaeth to discuss the matter today with those members.