724.3415/4020: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Brazil (Gibson)
108. Your 176, August 17, 5 p.m. The Department received last night from the American Embassy in Buenos Aires a cable19 stating that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Brazilian Ambassador, and [Page 175] the American Ambassador had on that date received a note from the Paraguayan Minister quoting in full the Argentine peace formula and accepting the same without reservations in the name of his Government.
In view of the action thus taken by Paraguay there would seem to be no further reason for questioning the full acceptance by Paraguay of Dr. Saavedra Lamas’s conciliation formula.
With reference to the first paragraph of your cable and to the request of the Brazilian Government for an expression of our views thereon, the statements made by the Bolivian Minister in Rio de Janeiro in the memorandum to which you refer appear to be at variance with statements made to the Department by the Bolivian Minister in Washington. The latter has stated that the outlet to the Paraguay River insisted upon by Bolivia is a condition essential to a satisfactory agreement between Bolivia and Paraguay through conciliation, but that it is not an indispensable prerequisite to an agreement to accept arbitration on the part of Bolivia. Please state, therefore, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs that the Department desires to clarify this apparent conflict before expressing any final views on this subject.
For your confidential information, I am inclined to believe that more satisfactory progress will be made if Brazil and the United States at this stage of the negotiations were to endeavor to obtain a definitive statement of her attitude from Bolivia, the Argentine Government doing the same with regard to Paraguay, with a simultaneous endeavor on the part of Argentina, Brazil, and the United States to attempt to conciliate the respective points of view of the belligerent governments. At the present time there seems to be considerable discrepancy in the statements made by Bolivia at Buenos Aires and the statements made at Rio and at Washington and it might be more practical to suggest next week to Dr. Saavedra Lamas that the procedure above indicated be temporarily adopted. The Department will cable you definite instructions on this point early next week.
- Telegram No. 127, August 17, 6 p.m., above.↩