724.3415/2243
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs (Wilson)
Mr. Bliss telephoned from Buenos Aires at 10 o’clock this morning to say that yesterday evening the Minister for Foreign Affairs sent for him and expressed his views as follows:
That Bolivia and Paraguay were now not far apart. The truce for thirty days had been accepted by Bolivia but Paraguay would not accept unless she received guarantees that her position would not be prejudiced by Bolivian troop movements during the truce. The object to be attained now is agreement of the two countries on guarantees acceptable to both. Mr. Bliss said that at this point in the conversation the Minister from Paraguay came into the room, having been asked to come by Saavedra Lamas. The latter went over the same points with the Paraguayan Minister. Saavedra explained that he wanted to find some way of settling this question satisfactory to the two countries and that if he could do so he would then transmit the question to the neutrals so that they could submit it to Paraguay and Bolivia. He said that Espil had reported that the neutrals wanted him to make some definite proposal to them which they could support and pass on to Bolivia and Paraguay. However, he could not make any such proposal unless he knew beforehand that it was satisfactory to both Bolivia and Paraguay.
Saavedra Lamas gave the Paraguayan Minister a paper covering the following points:
That he should find out if it would be agreeable to his Government if Bolivia should abandon the fortines and place them in the hands of neutral forces with a guarantee by the neutrals that there would be no hostilities and entire suspension of military movements which could be regarded as a concentration of forces. The Minister of Paraguay agreed to inquire of his Government whether this would be acceptable.
Saavedra asked Mr. Bliss to come in at 5 o’clock this afternoon and said that he would put the same thing up to the Minister of Bolivia to see if he could obtain agreement of his Government. If both Paraguay and Bolivia agree Saavedra would then transmit the proposal to the neutral commission in Washington so that it could submit the plan to the two governments.
Mr. Bliss said that he could see no objection to this proposal of the Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs since it was working towards [Page 195] a practical solution which would be transmitted to the neutrals for them to submit officially to Bolivia and Paraguay.
I gave Mr. Bliss the contents of the neutrals’ message to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bolivia of September 2.60 I said that while it seemed that the Argentine proposal might be towards the same end as that made by the neutrals to Bolivia, nevertheless the Argentines were going at it on their own again, and these independent steps and the many intrigues which had taken place as a result always made the efforts of the neutrals harder. I said that I was telephoning Francis White this morning and would give him the message and that if there were any suggestions to transmit to Mr. Bliss before his meeting with the Argentine Minister this afternoon I would telephone them to him.
With regard to the Argentine proposal that the fortines would be “placed in the hands of neutral forces” I asked Mr. Bliss if he knew just what Saavedra had in mind. He said that Saavedra had not explained this but that in a later conversation with the Paraguayan Minister the latter said he assumed this meant that the forces would be Argentine since only Argentina of the neutrals was in a position to move troops in this area.