Since June 1932, the Bolivian and Paraguayan armies have been fighting in the Chaco.

There is a great diversity of opinions both as to the boundaries of the Chaco and as to its wealth and possibilities of development. The Commission, while making use of the information it has been able to obtain during its tour, and supplementing that information by other particulars which have been carefully verified, thinks that it may be well to mention certain essential geographical facts.

In the first half of the nineteenth century there was no dispute between Bolivia and Paraguay concerning the Chaco. During the long dictatorship of Francia, her first President, from 1811, when Spanish rule came to an end, down to 1840, Paraguay existed in a state of complete isolation and deliberately held aloof from the outside world. After Francia’s death, the Congress, assembled at Asunción, approved in 1842 the Act of Independence of the Republic. The communication of this act to foreign countries marks the recognition of the independence of Paraguay, who concluded with the Argentine in 1852 a Frontier and Navigation Treaty, Article 4 of which specifies that the “River Paraguay shall belong from bank to bank in full sovereignty to the Republic of Paraguay down to its confluence with the Paraná.”

In the introduction to this report, reference has been made to the terms of the reports of May 20 and July 3, 1933, and January 20, 1934, in which the Council defined the Commission’s terms of reference.

In its draft treaty of peace, the Commission deliberately avoided any reference to the question of responsibility for the war.

Several references have been made in this report to military questions and their influence on the change in the parties’ attitude and on the development of the negotiations, which, apart from a brief armistice, were conducted during a period of active operations.

The publication of the draft treaty of peace prepared by the Commission, the text of which has been reproduced earlier in this report, brought home to American public opinion that the Chaco conflict, the persistence of which had gradually created a sense of discouragement, as if it had been an irremediable catastrophe, could be settled by conciliation and law. The replies from the two Governments have shown that the draft represents an equitable proposal, carefully devised in all its parts for the purpose of finding the exact point at which, with a little will for peace, diametrically opposite theses and aspirations could be made to meet, and that any additional concessions to the demands of either party could only have increased the divergence between them.

On meeting for the first time, the Commission of the League of Nations wishes, first of all, to thank the Uruguayan Government and nation for its kind hospitality and for the facilities which have been afforded to it to enable its labors to proceed, according to its intentions, in an atmosphere of complete independence.

I left Bahía Negra by air for Corumbá (Brazil) on November 24. From Corumbá I proceeded by motor-car to Puerto Suarez, where I met the Bolivian General Mariaca Pando. He was not expecting me, as he had not then received any instructions from his Government regarding my visit. Nevertheless, he showed himself quite ready to furnish me, very courteously, with information of every kind. After passing the whole day at Puerto Suarez, I returned in the evening to Corumbá. The next morning I resumed my journey by air to Puerto Casada, where I rejoined the other members of the Commission.

Our Government has examined, with all the attention and interest it merits, the draft prepared by the Commission of which you are Chairman, and considers it its duty to make the following observations, and also to set forth the general bases on which, in its opinion, the Treaty of Peace and Arbitration between Paraguay and Bolivia should be drawn up.

The Bolivian Government has considered with the attention it merits the proposal formulated by the League of Nations Commission for putting an end to the conflict between Bolivia and Paraguay, and has arrived at the following conclusions