740.0011 Pacific War/2503
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Chile (Bowers)
The Secretary of State has received from a reliable source the following strictly confidential information:
The Japanese Minister at Santiago is reported to have given the President of Chile assurances that Chilean shipping will not be attacked by Japan. The President of Chile, on his part, is understood to have informed the Japanese Minister that Chile expects to maintain its neutral position despite efforts of the United States and of certain Chilean Leftist political elements to bring about a modification in Chilean policy to one of closer cooperation with the United States in its war effort.
The President of Chile is also reported to have stated in this conversation that he is opposed to sending a special representative of the Chilean Government to Washington because he believes this might tend to place Chile in the position of a vassal state. It is also understood that the President of Chile informed the Japanese Minister that Chile and Argentina had agreed upon a concerted plan of future action at the time of the recent visit to Chile of the Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs.32 The Japanese Minister is reported to have expressed to the President of Chile the hope that Chile and Argentina would exert their combined efforts for the maintenance of peace in South America.
- Enrique Ruiz Guiñazú.↩