WAR DECLARED

Southland Times, Issue 22013, 12 May 1933, Page 7

WAR DECLARED

PARAGUAY AND BOLIVIA DISPUTE OVER GRAN CHACO GREAT EXCITEMENT (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) Asuncion (Paraguay), May 10. Paraguay to-day formally declared war against Bolivia. They have been engaged hitherto in an undeclared war in the Gran Chaco border area since last summer. President Eusebio Ayala, using the authority recently voted him by Congress, signed the declaration at 11 a.m. The news of the signing provoked great demonstrations which soon reached the streets. The celebrations were the most widespread since hostilities began last June, and crowds forged through the thoroughfares singing and cheering. For the first time in fifty years the Gran Chaco dispute has reached a formal status of warfare, though for years intermittent fighting has kept both nations armed. -Paraguay hopes that the formal declarations of neutrality by Argentina and Chile, and perhaps by Peru and Brazil, will hamper the Bolivian importation of supplies. Both nations are determined that the present struggle shall result in a definite permanent settlement of the Gran Chaco strife. Except for the belated entry of several South American nations into the Great War this is the first declaration of war on the continent since Bolivia fought Chile in 1879 over the nitrate fields. BULLETS AND DISEASE THOUSANDS ALREADY SLAIN. (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 9.25 p.m.) Buencs Aires, May 11. Sixty thousand troops have been engaged in real war between Bolivia and Paraguay this year. The old struggle may seem a comic opera affair, says the Sun correspondent, but the fight for Chaco has already been punctuated by a series of bloody, spectacular battles. Both sides have machine-guns, tanks and big guns. Bullets, disease and thirst have slain thousands, while snakes, mosquitoes and fever are terrible handicaps. Men of both nations are rushing to join the colours.. Seven hundred miles of new highways through the jungle are traversed by a fleet of army trucks. There was a clash in December of 1928 between the armed forces of Bolivia and Paraguay. _ The precise territory in that dispute is that which is called Chacao Boreal, a part of the Gran Chacao. It is a V-shaped stretch of territory about 100,000 square miles in extent lying between the 21st and the 25th parallels of south latitude and the 60th and 57th meridian of west longitude, between the Paraguay and Pilcomayo Rivers. The two countries base their claims to this territory on two distinct principles, of which Paraguay holds to the older, universally accepted in the sixteenth century, that the country which discovered the mouth of a river thereby became the owner of all the territory drained by that stream. Spain through the discovery of Juan de Solis in 1515, and Sebastian Cabot in 1525, laid claims to the territory drained by the Rio de la Plata, taken possession of by them in her name. Through the work of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca in 1540, of Irala in 1542, of Manso in 1556, and others, Spain explored and colonized many of the more important parts of this whole Rio de la Plata basin.

The most important of the cities founded in the sixteenth century was Asuncion, founded in 1536. This city is, in many respects, therefore, the mother city of this region of Paraguay and Eastern Bolivia. It was from Asuncion and through the influence of that city that the natives of the Gaurani stocks were civilized. It is for these reasons that the Paraguayans prefer to go back to this principle in their claim to the territory rather than to that on which the Bolivians base their claim. The Bolivians maintain that there is no need of going back to such ancient principles and practices. They desire only to go back to the arrangement of 1810, known as the “utipossidetis” of that year. This is a very well-known and a very wellestablished arrangement in the history of South America, through which . it was greeted by the people formerly inhabitants of the several different governmental divisions of the Indies that upon attainment of political independence the boundaries of the newly created States should follow the divisional lines established by Spain in her efforts to govern her colonies in the Americas. This meant that the new States should follow such of the administrative lines as delimited viceroyalties, captaincies-general, audiencias and Governments as were in legal force in 1810. On the overthrow of the vice-royalty of Peru in 1822, the two territories of the Audiencias of Los Reyes and El Cuzco were united to form the Republic of Peru. The territory of the Audiencia of Charcas was made into the Republic of Bolivia. The Audiencia of Buenos Aires was made into the States of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. The old boundary of the Audiencia of Charcas extended to those parts of the Pilcomayo and the Paraguay Rivers which the Bolivians claim form part of the boundary of the Chaco Boreal, the territory in dispute between them and the Paraguayans. This, then is in accordance with their contention that the utipossidestis juri of 1810 should be taken as the point from which to begin in any effort to settle boundary disputes in South America.

The two countries., after carrying on negotiations for some time, finally came to an agreement to accept the offer made by Argentina to send plenipotentiaries for a cominissiion to sit in Buenos Aires and in which she was. to have an observer. The commission was duly formed as provided by this agreement, known as the Diaz Leon Protocol, of April 22, 1927, and began its sessions in an atmosphere of optimism. Differences soon arose over the interpretation of the protocol, and an impasse was reached. An adjournment of several months was taken. In April of the next year the sessions were resumed and continued intermittently until the clash above mentioned occurred. No settlement has since been effected.

In July of 1931 Paraguay accepted the offer of Argentina to mediate over the Gran Chaco dispute, but Bolivia replied that she preferred “direct negotiations.” Last June unofficial hostilities broke out. Since then efforts have been made by the League of Nations and by the United States Government to bring the two States to an agreement but without success. Intermittent fighting has been reported since June. Paraguay and Bolvia are members of the League of Nations.