724.3415/2154: Telegram
The Ambassador in Chile (Culbertson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:50 p.m.]
187. On several occasions during the past week the Minister for Foreign Affairs has conferred with the Ambassadors of Argentina, Brazil, Peru on the Chaco question. He has taken the position firmly that he was not in favor of the neighboring countries initiating any independent action but that he did desire to organize the influence of the neighboring countries in order to offer it as a support to the neutrals in their effort to establish peace. This afternoon he handed me a memorandum and a draft of a note which embodies his views and those of the three Ambassadors who are until now without instructions from their Governments in the premises.
The first paragraphs of the draft note recite in friendly terms the long standing policy of the American continent “to eliminate force as an instrument for solving territorial questions which so deeply [Page 188] agitate the soul of the American people”. That the four neighbouring countries view with apprehension the state of warlike excitation in Bolivia and Paraguay and without pretending to impair their sovereign rights or to prejudge the juridical merits of the case, they feel it to be their duty as bordering countries and as friends to call their attention to the immense responsibility which each assumes before the family of American nations in not lessening in part its terms of settlement in such a way as to facilitate the solution of the present controversy. Reference is then made to the long series of efforts to reach a solution and it is pointed out that the danger to American peace is still alive and that this danger affects in a very special manner the bordering countries in view of which the four Governments, responding to the suggestion of the Neutral Commission, have formulated the proposal embodied in this note.
The draft note concludes with these paragraphs.
“In the place which may be considered convenient and within the period of one month, to call a conference composed of a representative of the Neutral Commission of Washington, delegates of Bolivia and of Paraguay, and delegates of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru, on the basis of:
- (1st),
- Immediate abstention from, at the moment of accepting this invitation, all military activity in the zone of the forts in the Chaco;
- (2nd),
- Maintenance of the present positions without
prejudging with respect to the future situation of the
forts taken after June 1st. The conference would
determine:
- (a)
- the condition in which the zone occupied after June 1st must remain;
- (b)
- it would propose equitable formulae for the friendly settlement of the fundamental question taking into account the reciprocal interests of the parties;
- (c)
- in case of the impossibility of a direct understanding, it would suggest the bases for arbitration or for successive arbitrations;
- (d)
- it would guarantee, in the meantime, the observance of non-aggression in the disputed territory.
In taking this decision, after mature study, the Governments of the A. B. C. and of Peru consider that they reached the limit of their conciliatory spirit and, consequently, they leave entirely in the hands of the Government of Bolivia or of Paraguay all responsibility for the consequences which might result for them from the application of recognized international principles to prevent or stop war.
Since there is still time to calm feelings and to alleviate the political atmosphere, the Governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru are confident that the road will be found, not only for a similar temporary truce but for a noble and definitive solution of the problem of the Chaco”.
The memorandum of the Minister for Foreign Affairs states that the draft note, if approved, “will be formally drafted and directed to the Governments of Brazil and Peru56 through Washington by virtue of the invitation made by the Commission of Neutrals”.
He desires that the Department of State use its influence to obtain the acceptance of the note by the Governments of the other neighbor states. He asks that the document be held confidential and concludes that “the confidential and informal opinion of the Department of State will be duly appreciated as soon as possible for the better success of the negotiations”.