833.51/899: Telegram
The Minister in Uruguay (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 1:55 p.m.]
80. My telegram No. 78, May 24, 11 a.m. The President authorized me last night to inform you that he shares the opinions expressed in your telegram 39, May 23, and agrees to the suggested procedure. Please telegraph me when our officers may be expected here.
The President, the Minister of Finance,28 and the Minister of Foreign Affairs also discussed with me the plan to acquire war material,29 principally airplanes, in order to strengthen its defenses. This matter has been considered at the last two Cabinet meetings, and the Government has announced to the press that it intends to devote 10,000,000 pesos to this purpose. The President said that he wished to consult the United States Government regarding the possibilities of assistance in financing at long term in the United States the purchase of such war material to the value of about $6,500,000. He assumed that in the present world situation the United States Government was giving consideration to the matter of assisting the Latin American Republics in a program of rearmament, and that before drafting a bill to submit to his Congress, he would like to have the views of the United States Government. The Minister for Foreign Affairs will give me a memorandum on this question, perhaps today, which I will at once telegraph.