FOREIGN RELATIONS, 19 5 0 VOLUME I


achievement of the foregoing undertakings. Further, such sacrifice
would tend to nullify the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assist-
ance which will provide to the United States few of the advantages
which it envisages unless its military aspects are implemented prior to
the outbreak of a major emergency.
  10. During 1948-1949 the Latin American nations demonstrated, in
Colombia4' and in Bolivia,5 their inability to maintain internal order.
Were the Bolivian uprisings repeated in time of emergency, the conse-
quent interruption of tin production could result in grave consequences
to the United States.
  11. The Latin American forces required for the preservation of in-
ternal order are generally of types adaptable to police duty....
  12. In the absence of an offer of U.S. arms, the Latin American
nations may be unable to resist opportunities to purchase obsolescent
armaments of European manufacture that may become available in
currencies other than U.S. dollars. Past experience has shown that
armament sales by European nations are usually contingent upon
acceptance of training missions by the recipients. A foreseeable result,
in the discontinuance of U.S. missions, would begin the deterioration
of standardized military collaboration to an extent paralleling the
situation prior to World War II, and might again require the diver-
sion of sizable forces to secure the strategic raw materials essential
to our war effort. Further, the cost of reestablishing Latin American
military cooperation would far exceed that required for the conserva-
tion of the gains achieved to date.

                            CONCLUSIONS
   13. In global war, the security of the Western Hemisphere (in-
 cluding Latin America) and access by us to the resources of the
 Hemisphere would be essential to any transoceanic projection of
 major United States offensive power.
   14. The Latin American nations must be ready and able to assume
 their military obligations under the Inter-American Treaty of
 Reciprocal Assistance in order to insure the uninterrupted delivery
 of raw materials upon which any major U.S. war effort will depend,
 and in order to minimize U.S. military manpower requirements in
 Latin America under emergency conditions.
   15. The United States has an implied moral commitment to con-
 clude, without delay, those military agreements necessary for the
 implementation of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assist-

   See the documentation on the Ninth International Conference of American
 States held at BogotA, Colombia, in Foreign Relations, 1948, vol. ix, pp.
1 ff.
 For documentation on Bolivia, see vol. n, pp. 744 ff.


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