740.0011 Pacific War/956

The Mexican Chargé (Quintanilla) to the Secretary of State

[Translation]

Mr. Secretary: On telephonic instructions from my Government, I have the special pleasure of forwarding to Your Excellency a copy of the statements which have just been made in Mexico City by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Ezequiel Padilla. In this document, the Government of Mexico announces the decision which it took today to break off diplomatic relations with the Japanese Empire.

As the statements of Secretary Padilla are themselves sufficiently explicit, it is unnecessary for me to expand upon the extraordinary importance which the enclosed document has, not only for Mexico and the United States, but also for the fate of Pan Americanism.

I take this opportunity [etc.]

Luis Quintanilla
[Enclosure—Translation]

Declarations of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Made December 8, 1941

On repeated occasions the Government of Mexico has made public the purposes of unshakable solidarity which inspire the policy of our country’s relation with the other nations of this continent. In conformity with this attitude, Mexico—during the Meeting of Foreign Ministers held in Habana in 1940—agreed to consider as an act of aggression against itself any attack by a non-American State which [Page 100] should injure the fundamental rights of any of the Republics of this hemisphere.

The Government of Mexico, which has invariably advocated the absolute respect of international engagements voluntarily contracted, cannot fail to consider—as a natural consequence of the aforesaid declaration—that the maintenance of its diplomatic relations with Japan is incompatible with the act of aggression which the latter has committed against the United States of America.

Accordingly, instructions have been given to our Minister in Tokyo that, after notification of the foregoing to the authorities near which he is accredited, he shall proceed to close the Legation and the Consulate in Yokohama.

The above decision has been communicated to the Minister of Japan in this capital for similar effects, there having been cancelled, from this date, the provisional authorization granted to Consular Agents of the said Empire in the Mexican Republic.