833.51/678: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Uruguay (Lay)
11. Your 16, March 13, noon, with the exception of the last paragraph, has been communicated to the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council, which has drafted the following reply that should be communicated to the Acting Minister of Finance:
“Foreign Bondholders Protective Council has been pleased to learn that His Excellency the Minister of Finance of Uruguay is considering coming to the United States in the near future. The Council sincerely hopes that His Excellency will do so as it feels confident that in personal conversations, dealing with the matter directly, it would be possible to work out an arrangement which would be fair, just and equitable both to the bondholders and to the Republic of Uruguay and the City of Montevideo. It is extremely difficult to carry on a satisfactory negotiation at long range by cable, which is never adequate for dealing with a difficult problem and indeed in spite of all that be done to the contrary may give an erroneous impression of the true sympathy and feeling which underlies the discussion.
In order to save time when His Excellency arrives here it would be most helpful if the Council could receive from the Uruguayan Government, at its earliest convenience through the courtesy of the American Minister in Montevideo, full details regarding the arrangement that the Government has been contemplating, including the amounts yielded in recent years by the revenues to be allocated as security for the new bonds; the arrangements it has made or proposes to make to its other creditors, foreign and domestic, and as much other financial and economic data on the Republic of Uruguay [Page 937] and the City of Montevideo as will help to a consideration of the proposal.
The Council has no other desire than to facilitate a mutually acceptable arrangement which it is confident can be reached through direct conversations with the Minister of Finance which, it repeats, it most earnestly hopes will be made possible by a visit on his part to New York.”
In presenting this message from the Council you may orally support the expressed hope of the Council that the Minister of Finance visit New York, pointing out the difficulties of negotiation by cable and the advantages of personal and direct conversation.