LEAGUE OF NATIONS DISPUTE BETWEEN BOLIVIA AND PARAGUAY REPORT OF THE CHACO COMMISSION Geneva, 1934 Publications of the League of Nations DISPUTE BETWEEN BOLIVIA AND PARAGUAY Documentation concerning the Dispute betw een Bolivia and Paraguay. (Ser. L.o.N. P. 1928.VII.1) gd. $0.20 Comprises a complete dossier of the measures taken by the Council during its Lugano Session, and on the close of the session by the President on behalf of the Council, to end the dispute and to get a peaceful mode of settlement accepted, in conformity with the Covenant. The Council's action ceased as soon as Bolivia declared that, " in accordance with the Council’s suggestions ”, she accepted, like Paraguay, the good offices of the Pan-American Arbitration Council. The two Governments had previously accepted the Council’s suggestions in regard to restricting their military measures to purely defensive ones. Documents concerning the Dispute between Bolivia and Paraguay. (Ser. L.o.N. P. 1929.VII.1).................................................................................. 6d. $0.10 Correspondence relating to the Dispute betw een Bolivia and Paraguay. (Ser. L.o.N. P. 1930.VII.1) 6d. $0.15 Issues of the OFFICIAL JOURNAL dealing with the Dispute between Bolivia and Paraguay. Price: Official Journal, 13th Year, No. 1, January 1932.........................................10/- $2.50 — — No. 9, September 1932....................................... 1/6 $0.40 — — No. 11, November 1 9 3 2 ...................................... 6/- $1.50 — — No. 12, December 1932 (Part II)........................12/- $3.00 — 14th Year, No. 2, February 1 9 3 3 ...................................... 8/- $2.00 — — No. 4, April 1933 (Part I I ) .............................. 2/- $0.50 — — No. 6, June 1933 (Part I I ) ................................ 1/6 $0.40 — — No. 7, July 1933 (Part I)...................................5/- $1.25 — — No. 9, September 1933 (PartII) .... 1/3 $0.30 — — No. 11, November 1933 (Part II).....................2/- $0.50 — 15th Year, No. 2, February 1934 (Part I I ) ...................... 1/3 $0.35 List of documents published in 1933 sent free of charge on application. LEAGUE OF NATIONS PUBLICATIONS DEPARTMENT, GENEVA. [Communicated to the Council Official N o.: C. 154. M. 64. 1934. VII. and the Members of the League.] Geneva, May n t h , 1934. LEAGUE OF NATIONS DISPUTE BETWEEN BOLIVIA AND PARAGUAY REPORT OF THE CHACO COMMISSION Note by the Secretary-General : The Secretary-General has the honour to communicate to the Council and the Members of the League the report of the Commission which the Council sent to the scene of hostilities. The French text of the report was adopted and signed by the members of the. Commission at Geneva on May 9th, 1934. Series of League of Nations Publications VII. POLITICAL 1934. VII. 1. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION CONTENTS. Page I ntroduction ................................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter I. —• G e o g ra p h ic a l F a c ts c o n c e rn in g t h e C h a c o ....................... 12 Chapter II. — T he Chaco D i s p u t e .......................................................................... 18 Chapter III. — T he Commission’s W ork for a Settlem ent of the Conflict . 34 Chapter IV . — T he Question of the E nquiry into the R esponsibility of W a r ............................................................................................................................................. 50 Chapter V. — Survey of the Military Si t u a t i o n ....................................... 54 Chapter V I. — T he Commission’s Co n c l u s io n s .................................................. 56 Annexes : 1. Communiqué issued by the Commission to the Press, at Montevideo, on November 3rd, 1 9 3 3 ............................................................................... 59 2. Report by Major Rivera Flandes on his Visit to Puerto Suarez . 59 3. Replies from the Plenipotentiaries of Paraguay concerning the Com­ mission’s D raft T r e a ty ........................................................................... 62 4. Reply of the Bolivian Government concerning the Commission’s Draft Treaty, transmitted to the Bolivian Plenipotentiary on March 6th, 1934 .............................................................................................................................. 66 LIST OF MAPS. 1. General Ma p. 2. Map of the Chaco. 3- L ines proposed in P revious F ormulas for a Solution. 4 - Lines proposed b y the Commission in its Formula. S.d.N. 1.735 (F.) 1.400 (A.) 845 {Esp.) 5/34. Im p. Kundig. — 5 — [Translation.] INTRODUCTION. Since June 1932, the Bolivian and Paraguayan armies have been fighting in the Chaco. Neither of the parties brought the dispute before the League of Nations under the Covenant, and for a long time efforts were made to settle it by negotiations conducted by American States. In view of those negotiations, the Council of the League thought it desirable, in order to avoid a duplication of jurisdictions, to confine its action in the first place to supporting the efforts that were being made in America to secure peace. It continued, however, to follow the question closely. A Committee of three of its Members (Irish Free State, Spain and Guatemala 1) was specially appointed to keep it informed of the development of the situation. On March 6th, 1933, the three States represented on that Committee, feeling that the situation was steadily growing worse, laid the matter before the Council in virtue of Article n of the Covenant. After information had been furnished by the representatives of the parties, the Council’s intervention under Article n was deferred to enable the action of the adjacent Powers to be pursued on the basis of the Agreement signed at Mendoza on February 2nd by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Argentine and Chile. On May 10th, the President of the Republic of Paraguay proclaimed that republic to be in a state of war with Bolivia. The latter protested to the Council, urging that Paraguay was placing herself outside the Covenant and incurring the penalties provided under Article 16. On May 20th, the Committee of the Council submitted a report stating that in this conflict the Council’s first duty was to endeavour to bring about the cessation of hostilities and a settlement of the dispute. The Council did not consider that it should or need enter into considerations of a different order. It trusted that it might never be compelled to do so, since it was convinced that, if the parties really desired peace and good relations, they would accept the procedure it recommended to them and, pending the operation of this procedure, would discontinue hostilities, which had already been going on too long. Terms of Reference of the Commission despatched to the Scene of Hostilities. The procedure recommended by the Council, and the terms of reference of the Commission to be despatched to the scene of hostilities in order to set that procedure effectively in motion, are defined in paragraphs 9 and 10 of the report of May 20th. These paragraphs read as follows : “ 9. In conformity with the Covenant, the two countries are under obligation to settle their dispute by pacific means. In order to carry out this obligation, the Council recommends the following procedure : The two Governments would entrust the final settlement of the dispute to an impartial authority, deriving its powers from a treaty binding on both States—namely, the Covenant of the League of Nations. Such an authority, after a thorough study of the question, would fix the frontier between the two countries. Such a procedure connotes : (i) the cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal by Paraguay of the declaration of a state of war with Bolivia; (2) the establishment of an agreement for submission of the dispute to arbitration. “ 10. In order effectively to establish the procedure for settlement indicated in the preceding paragraph, the Council considers it essential to send to the spot a Commission whose task would be: “ (1) To negotiate, if desirable, any arrangement calculated to promote the execution of the obligation to cease hostilities ; " (2) To prepare, in consultation with the two Governments concerned, an agreement for arbitration. If the agreement for arbitration does not indicate the arbitrators or the procedure for their appointment, the Council will provide for such appointment and will, if necessary, settle the arbitral procedure; “ (3) The Commission will be at the Council’s disposal and w'ill keep it informed of the course of its activities. The Commission, at the Council’s request, will proceed to make an enquiry on all the circumstances of the dispute, including the part which the two parties have taken therein, and will report to the Council to enable the latter to fulfil the duties imposed upon it by the Covenant of the League of Nations.” 1 Guatemala and the Irish Free State subsequently ceased to be Members of the Council. They were replaced on the Committee of the Council by Mexico and Czechoslovakia. — 6 — At the meeting on May 20th, all the Members of the Council, except the representatives of the parties, spoke in favour of the report, which was also accepted by the representative of Paraguay. The representative of Bolivia reserved his Government’s decision for the time being. The negotiations conducted by the Committee of the Council with the representatives of the parties, after May 20th, showed that