710 Consultation (4)/11–2044: Telegram
The Ambassador in Panama ( Warren ) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 20, 1944—10:40 p.m.]
641. The following clarifying statement was made today by the Foreign Minister49 to the AP, UP and the New York Times correspondents and in reply to a question the Minister emphasized that the plan is a 100 percent Panamanian plan.
“The Ministry of Foreign Relations had not up to the present time given to the press any data concerning the point of view of the Government of Panama with respect to the request of the Government of Argentina that the American nations should decide about the Argentine situation because the Ministry desired to keep the affair in confidence in order that the respective Foreign Offices might be able to exchange ideas in an atmosphere of complete serenity.
However, some news agencies during recent days have published in several newspapers of the continent information which does not summarize accurately the Panamanian proposal because these news reports are more than anything else a summary of comments obtained from unofficial sources. Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Relations, changing from that course which had been outlined, finds itself under the obligation of publicly explaining the opinion stated by the Panamanian Government about the Argentine problem in its memorandum to the American Foreign Offices, and declares that the said memorandum is summarized as follows: [Page 59]
- (1)
- The Government of Panama is in agreement that it is necessary and convenient to hold a conference of American Foreign Ministers but not for the purpose of dealing with the case of Argentina but in order to discuss the various fundamental problems of the continent—political as well as economic—and those of any other basic character, with a view to the postwar period.
- (2)
- In the opinion of the Panamanian Government it is not absolutely necessary to fix beforehand a date for the conference of Foreign Ministers, since this point is not the essential one for the development and the success of that conference. Perhaps it would be more advantageous to prepare a joint agenda of practical character and not of more or less vague terms, but along concrete lines, in order that such agenda may be studied by each one of the American countries with the greatest interest and in consideration of the very important problems listed in the said agenda. When that agenda already may be under study by the various American governments an agreement would be reached regarding the date of the conference and the place of the conference.
- (3)
- The Republic of Panama, like all the other nations of America, holds the hope that the Argentine Republic may assist at the referred to conference of Foreign Ministers. Therefore, Panama considers that Argentina should form part of the conference if the Government of that country observes, with due anticipation, emphasized acts which may signify a radical change with respect to the course of action followed up to the present time and which shall be evidenced by the exact compliance with the obligations acquired in Rio de Janeiro and in the other American conferences.
- (4)
- Prior to the conference of Foreign Ministers there will be carried out a consultation among the Foreign Offices in order to decide if the Argentine Republic has followed the line of conduct referred to in the foregoing paragraph and may be considered, therefore, as an integral part of American unity and as resolutely affiliated with the democratic cause which America follows. If the unanimous conclusion is reached that the new inter-American policy of Argentina merits the approval of the other nations of the continent, the latter will proceed to recognize the Argentine Government and the Argentine Republic will be able to attend the conference of Foreign Ministers like any of the other American states.
- (5)
- If the conclusion is adverse there only will be consideration of the Argentine case at the conference of Foreign Ministers in order to make a statement of the common hope that Argentina may return to form part of the great continental family. In the statement which may be formulated in this respect, the American nations will express in categorical form the measures and the acts which still should be carried out by the Argentine Republic in order that that general hope may find fulfillment and in order that Argentina may take part in future Pan-American meetings.
The Government of Panama has proposed the formula set forth in the five foregoing numbered paragraphs in the conviction that the [Page 60] formula will avoid useless and even disruptive efforts and at the same time will give to Argentina ample opportunity to enter frankly and openly into the common American nucleus as is the greatest desire of Panama and of the other continental nations.”
- Roberto Jiménez.↩