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  4. Document 700

733.5 MSP/5–852

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Deputy Director of the Office of South American Affairs (Bennett)

confidential
[Washington,] May 8, 1952.

Subject:

  • Negotiations with Uruguay for Military Agreement
  • Participants: Lt. General Charles Bolté, Deputy Chief of Staff (Army)
  • Major General Robert Walsh
  • Col. Crawford1
  • Col. Hall2
  • Mr. Mann, ARA
  • Mr. Jamison, AR
  • Mr. Bennett, OSA

The meeting was arranged in General Bolté’s office in connection with Mr. Mann’s forthcoming trip to Uruguay to assist in the negotiations for a military agreement between the United States and Uruguay.

General Bolté emphasized the strong interest of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in achieving a military agreement with Uruguay. He said that the Joint Chiefs have no desire to quibble over phraseology in the Agreement or Plan so long as the requirements of our law are met. In response to specific questions from Mr. Mann, General Bolté stated that the Joint Chiefs are entirely agreeable to inserting language in the agreement which would provide that action to be taken in the future by Uruguay should be in accord with her constitutional procedures. The General stated that there would be no objection on the part of the Joint Chiefs to other changes with respect to specific missions assigned Uruguayan military forces so long as the Uruguayans understand that matériel can be furnished them only for specific missions set forth in the military Plan. The General indicated that there would be no problem in adding language regarding other missions by Uruguay to be agreed on in the future by the two parties. He assured Mr. Mann that he could negotiate with entire confidence on the above points in the knowledge that he enjoyed the full backing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In sum General Bolté stressed that the Pentagon is interested in agreement with Uruguay and has no desire to be unduly meticulous over phraseology. General Bolté commented that the amount of matériel being allocated for the Latin American program is not large comparatively speaking and added that there might well be difficulty with deliveries, at least on the larger items; he expressed the view that the primary importance of the agreement with Uruguay is its indication [Page 1548] of solidarity between our two countries. The important thing is that a Government give indication that it is prepared to do the right thing in the future if trouble should come.3

  1. Stuart F. Crawford.↩
  2. Presumably James M. Hall.↩
  3. On June 30, 1952, Ambassador Roddan and Foreign Minister Pittaluga signed, at Montevideo, a Military Assistance Agreement between the United States and Uruguay, which entered into effect on June 11, 1953; for text, see Department of State Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) No. 2778, or United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (UST), vol. 5, p. 197.↩