Office of the Historian

File No. 724.3415/27.

Minister Mooney to the Secretary of State.

[Extract.]
No. 67.]
American Legation,
Asuncion, Paraguay, July 29, 1915.

Sir: I have the honor to advise you that on July 19 a protocol was signed at Asunción by the Bolivian Plenipotentiary, Dr. Ricardo Mujía, and the Paraguayan Plenipotentiary, Dr. Fulgencio Moreno, extending the Ayala-Mujía Agreement of April 5, 1913, relative to the Paraguay-Bolivia boundary dispute, until July 28, 1916. * * *

[Page 33]

I have the honor to inclose herewith a translation-copy of the Ayala-Mujía Agreement of April 5, 1913; and shall transmit to you a transcript of the Protocol of July 19, 1915, as soon as I am able to obtain a copy thereof.

I have [etc.]

Daniel F. Mooney.
[Inclosure—Translation.]

Ayala-Mujía Agreement.

At the City of Asunción, the capital of the Republic of Paraguay, on April 5, 1913, meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Dr. Ricardo Mujía, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Bolivia, and His Excellency Dr. Eusebio Ayala, Foreign Minister, agreed to sign the following Protocol:

  • Article I. The High Contracting Parties undertake to negotiate a definitive boundary treaty within two years counted from the date of the approval of the present agreement by the respective Governments.
  • Article II. The possibility of concluding a treaty by direct negotiations, taking into account the commercial obligations of both countries, is primarily contemplated.
  • Article III. Should it not be possible to agree upon a treaty by means of direct negotiation, the High Contracting Parties will submit their boundary dispute to arbitration upon its legal merits.
  • Article IV. Until the direct negotiations reach a successful conclusion, or the arbitration award is delivered, the status quo of the Agreement of January 12, 1907, shall continue in force, both parties declaring that they have not modified their respective positions since that date.
  • Article V. By virtue of the preceding clauses which modify the stipulations of the Agreement of January 12, 1907, the High Contracting Parties agree to declare that that agreement has lapsed.
  • Article VI. The period for the approval by the respective Governments of the present agreement and referendum shall be four months from this date.

In witness whereof the undersigned Plenipotentiaries sign the present Protocol in duplicate.

  • Ricardo Mujía.
  • Eusebio Ayala.

Note.—The above agreement was approved by the respective Governments thereto, on July 28, 1913.