724.3415/2657: Telegram
The Paraguayan Minister for Foreign Affairs (Benítez) to the Chairman of the Commission of Neutrals (White)
[Received 12:04 p.m.]
My Government has received the proposal of the Commission of Neutrals of the 15th instant. The proposal leaves the Bolivian Army in the center of the Chaco, Ballivián–Vitriones line, while it compels the Paraguayan Army to abandon the Chaco entirely and withdraw to the bank of the Paraguay River, without considering the bank of the Río Pilcomayo and the Río Negra, occupied by us from time immemorial. The proposal grants to Bolivia police powers in the zone [Page 130] awarded by President Hayes,89 regions where she has no civilian population, placing her on a basis of equality with Paraguay, who has centers of population there as well as important industrial, cattle raising, and agricultural establishments. Moreover, the proposal carries with it no guarantees for preventing new incidents or for the just settlement of the boundary controversy in a form satisfactory to the legitimate aspirations that we have been formulating since the first part of August, to prevent the outbreak of the conflict, and then, to put an end to the war. The solution is subordinated to the determination of the Chaco area, when that geographical unit admits of natural limits, and in this manner a question of delimitation of boundaries is converted into a territorial controversy which manifestly favors the Bolivian thesis. My Government maintains that Bolivia has committed acts of violent conquest and has deliberately attacked Paraguay. Impunity for such offenses cannot be admitted nor the results thereof sanctioned. To reestablish the regime of law, a strict investigation which will show which is the guilty party in this iniquitous war is necessary. For this and other reasons, my Government, while not questioning the intentions of the Commission, cannot consider the bases proposed as satisfactory or just.
- On November 12, 1878; see Foreign Relations, 1878, p. 711.↩