This afternoon, the Uruguayan Minister, Dr. Cesar Montero de Bustamante, called on me on instructions from his Government to leave the attached note and memorandum. † The Minister stated that he thought this memorandum was also being presented to the Foreign Offices of the countries of this Hemisphere with which Uruguay has diplomatic relations.

Briefly, the memorandum expresses Uruguay's concern for the consequences implied in the recognition of military governments which have achieved power by overthrowing lawfully constituted governments, and cites the recent example of Venezuela. It concludes by recommending against recognition of the present government of Venezuela and in favour of joint action being taken to study the problem.

Dr. Bustamante told me that although his government realized that Canada was not a member of the Pan American Union, it nevertheless wished us to be aware of Uruguay's views in this matter since it has always considered Canada as a member of the "American family". He went on to explain that Uruguay's traditional view with regard to recognition of governments which had come into power after overthrowing lawfully established governments is that recognition of such governments constitutes a direct intervention in the internal affairs of the State.

In the course of the conversation the Minister referred to the recent assumption of power by the Armed Forces in Peru and the military plot which was discovered earlier this month to overthrow the President of Chile. Although the Minister did not say so, the Chilean Government have reason to believe that this plot and the revolution in Peru last month received some assistance from the Argentine, and the fact that the recent revolution in Venezuela followed a similar pattern tends to give the impression that these uprisings are not unrelated. As a democratic country and as a neighbour of the Argentine, Uruguay's purpose in expressing the views contained in this memorandum is quite apparent.

In accepting the Minister's note, I promised him that I would refer it to you. After we have had an opportunity of studying it, a suggested reply will be submitted to you for your consideration .⁶

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⁶Voir le document suivant./See the immediately following document.