862.20210/2184: Telegram
The Ambassador in Uruguay ( Dawson ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:22 p.m.]
108. For the Under Secretary from Spaeth. My telegram No. 107, January 22.23 During the course of the Committee’s debate three [Page 8] motions were entertained. The Argentine member presented a motion that my letter be acknowledged and the memorandum filed. The Chilean member proposed that the Committee first consult with Argentina to determine whether publication might interfere with the investigation now being conducted. Finally, the Brazilian representative presented a motion calling for immediate publication. This latter motion was submitted to a vote which resulted in 5 affirmatives, the Chilean abstaining and the Argentine voting in the negative.
The manner of voting by the members will not be announced by the Committee. However, it will undoubtedly leak out.
The abstention by the member from Chile was based entirely on the fact that at the time of the publication of the Chilean memorandum it had been the unqualified position of the Chilean member that there should be no publication of such documents except after consultation with both Governments. It was for this reason that he proposed that before publishing the document the Committee should solicit the opinion of the Government of Argentina.
The Argentine member read a long memorandum which had obviously been prepared well in advance of the meeting. The Argentine memorandum presented three principal arguments. First, that the document was closely linked to a diplomatic interchange between the Government of the United States and the Government of Argentina, and therefore could not be published without the consent of both Governments; second, that the Argentine Government had done everything possible to prosecute the Axis agents mentioned in the memorandum; and third, that publication of the memorandum would interfere with the course of justice in the Argentine courts. In reply to these points the majority of the Committee took the position that the document submitted by Ambassador Dawson is the only instrument with which the Committee was concerned and that the fact that other documents were presented to the Government of Argentina by the Government of the United States was a matter entirely for those two Governments. With regard to the second Argentine argument the majority asserted that the arrest of a few spies and the expulsion of one diplomat merely scratched the surface. The threat to the hemisphere would continue so long as the Axis diplomatic corps continued in Argentina. Furthermore, the majority asserted that it was of vital importance to the defense of the hemisphere that all of its people appreciate the manner in which the espionage system is coordinated, directed and financed by Axis diplomats. With regard to the third argument, without entering into the technical question of the effect upon judicial proceedings, the majority maintained that the only issue [Page 9] for the Committee in this time of emergency is whether publication will promote the defense interests of all of the American Republics.
In the resolution authorizing publication the Committee [apparent omission] the principal propositions which were supported by the evidence in the memorandum, the most important of which was the charge that the entire espionage system in Argentina is organized, directed and financed by diplomats accredited to the Argentine Government.
Prior to taking action upon the Argentine memorandum the Committee sent a cable to the Foreign Minister of Chile applauding the contribution made to the political defense of the hemisphere by Chile’s action.24
Since sending section 1 have been advised that press has learned of Argentina’s negative vote and Chile’s abstention.
Repeated to Buenos Aires. [Spaeth.]