URUGUAY AND ARGENTINA SIGN DECLARATION ESTABLISHING EXTERIOR LIMIT OF RIO DE LA PLATA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000800080016-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 23, 2012
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: February 3, 1961
• Content Type: REPORT

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Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/10/23: CIA-RDP08001297R000800080016-1
FOREIGN SER N ICE DES'? ?'1711
Aniembassy MONTF,VID30
THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. WASHINGTON.
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SUBJECT:
Uruguay and Argentina Sign Declaration Establishing Exterior VV' 1/
Limit of Hid de la Plata
In the 130 years of Uruguay's independence, one of the major areas of
uncertainty in its foreign policy has been the establishment of definite ri-
parian rights for Argentina and Uruguay concerning their mutual boundary,
the huge Rio de la Plata (River of' Silver). An important step in the
direction of settling this matteruas taken on January 30 when Uruguay's
Foreign Minister Homero MARTINEZ Montero and the Argentine Ambassador
Gabriel DEL MAZO signed a joint declaration establishing the external limits
of the Rio de.la Plata. A free translation of the text of this declaration,
which was signed at the Foreign Office in the presence of a number of
Argentine diplomatic officials and high-ranking members of the Uruguayan
Foreign Office, is as follows:
TRANSIATION
Present at 'the Assembly Room of the Ministry of Foreign
- Relations Messrs. Hamero Martinez Montero, Minister of Foreign
Relations of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay and Engineer
? Gabriel del Maw, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
of the Argentine Republic, duly authorized by their Governments,
subscribe the following Joint Declaration:
The Governments of the Uriental Republic of Uruguay and of
the Argentine Republic, with the purpose of establishing in a
- definite form the exterior limits of the Rio de la Plata, to the
purposes foreseen in international law, and in a special way, to
fix the base line destined to measure the territorial sea and
its contiguous and adjacent zones.
Taking into consideration the provisions of Article 13 of
the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguoas Zone,
adopted by the Conference of the United Nations on the Law of
the Sea and signed by the two States in Geneva (Switzerland) on
April 29, 1958, they declare:
HTMitchell,Jr.:bac
? REPORTER
UNCLASSIFIED
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? ACTION
ASSIGNED TO-
- NAME OF OFFICER
& OFFICE SYMBOL
ACTION '
TAKEN
1 DATE OF DIRECTIONS
ACTIONACTION ? TO RM/R
ACTION COPY ? DEPARTMENT OF STATE
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_ ? UNCL%SSIFII:D [ Encl. No.
Desp. No_65a_
0Aasswation)
Frorn_jiOnte_Vide0
1. The exterior limit of the Rio de la Mate., dividing
the wtF!rs of this river from tIls Atlantic Ocean, is
the imaginary straight line wh4ch unites Punta del
Este in Uruguay with Punta Rea of the Cabo San
Antonio in Argentina.
2. The mentioned dividing line will also be the base line
to fix the respective zones of territorial sea and con-
tiguous and adjacent zones.
3. The juridical system of thc Rio de la Plata will continue
to be, as until the present, tllat established in the
Ramlrez-Saenz Pefia, Protocol sig Led in Montevideo on
January 5, 1910 and other instruments of both riparian
States insofar as these are applicable.
Signed and sealed in duplicate by both parties, in the
city of Montevideo, capital of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,
the thirtieth day of the month of January of the year one thou-
sand nine hundred and sixty-one. (Signed: Romero Mart/nez
Montero and Gabriel del Mazo).
The limits established by this declaration represent the position that
the GOU has supported and differs somewhat from the original Argentine sug-
gestion. Argentina had taken the position that the limit should be from the
same, point in Argentina, Punta Rasa del Cabo San Antonio, but should terminate
in Uruguay at Cabo Santa Maria, a point some 48 miles northeast of Punta del
' Este. Argentina's position was apparently based on certain 16th Century
historical accounts which gave Cabo Santa Maria as the point at which ships
changed direction to enter the river. Uruguay, however, has maintained that
these documents were based upon an error giving the name of Cabo Santa Maria
to the land point now called Punta del Este. This position has now been ac-
cepted by Argentina. -
COMMENT: The opposition List 15 Colorados has severely criticized the
GOU for voluntarily surrendering a sizeable area of territorial water by
, pressing for the Pinta del Este termination, and an editorial in the party
%paper ACCION, on February 1, served notice that they would never accept this
loss of sovereignty. The GOU's reasoning for favoring the Punta del Este
limit appears to be based on two main points. Firstly, as one of the UBD
newepapers TRIBUNA, has pointed out, the Punta del Este termination has been
traditionally accepted as the limit by the Foreign Office even during the time
the Colorados wale in power and, secondly, and perhaps more important, to ex-
tend the line 50 miles to the northeast could, by moving the center boundary
further north, result in a great loss of territorial water for Uruguay when a
determination is finally made as to the rights which Uruguay and Argentina
will share in the river.
An indication of the importance of this issue to the GOU is that the
UNCLASSIFIED
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uNcLiwsiteiED 1 End. No.___.1 _
_
(Classification) Desp. No _
Fromntevideo?
SPANISH TEXT
Reunidos en el Sal6n del Eanisterio de Relaciones Exteriores los
seflores Homero Eartinez hontero, EInistro de Relaciones Exteriores de
la ReOblica Oriental del Uruguay y el Ingeniero Gabriel del Mazo,
Embajador Extraordinario y Plenipotenciario de la Repdblica Argentina,
debidamente autorizados por sus Gobiernos, suscriben la siguiente De-
claraci6n Conjunta:
Los Gobiernos de la Repdblica Oriental del Uruguay y de la Repd-
blica Argentina, animados del prop6sito de establecer en forma defini-
tiva el limite exterior del Rio de la Plata, a los efectos previstos
en el derecho internacional y, de manera especial, pare fidar la linea
de base destinada a medir el mar territorial y sus zones contiguas y
AdYacentes.
Teniendo on cuenta lo disDuesto en el Articulo 13 de la Convenci6n
sobre el Ear Territorial y la Zona Contigua, adoptada por la Conferen-
'cia de las Naciones Unidas sabre el derecho del Ear y firmada por los
dos Estados en Cinebra (Suiza), el 29 de abril de 1958, declaran:
1. El l/mite exterior del Rio de be Plata, divisorio de las aguas
de dicho rio con el 0c6ano AtlAnticol es be linea recta imaginaria quo
une Punta del Este en el Uruguay con Punta Rasa del Cabo San Antonio en
la Argentina.
..,
. Ia)mendionadd lined diVieoria serg tambi6n la linea -de bisp-..-
4::-fijar:las respectives fajae de mar territorial y zonae contiguas...-
, _ ...... ... . .
acentes....
..,,...,
:3::El..r6gimenduridido del Rio do la Plata ContinuarA siendo, cemo
?rhaste el preSente,:el,establecido:en el Protocao Ramirez7Saenz Pefla
:-.f.irtedeen Montevideo el 5 de'enero de 1910y otros instruthentos.0
'..athbos.'.:Est4do4 riberOlos-en.ciianto sean
-Y-.1rinado-Y seUado, en d.oble ejemplart.:porambas.raitaa,en:1a:ctudad:,
e:Montevidee'i.eapital de la, Repdblica Criental.del Uruguay, a trein-
ta delHmes..de enererdel arlo.miI:novecientos sesenta sr
(Firmado: Homer? Martinez Montero y Gabriel del Mazo.
UNCLASSIFIED
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4 UNCLASSIFIED anci. Evo._____
(ClassilicatIon) De sp. No._ _65_8_
Fr omMOlateeltide_O
deceased leader of the Blanco Party, Luis Alberto HERR, selected Navy. Lt.
Martinez Montero for the position of Foreign Minister, primarily on the basis
of his qualifications in the field of international water rights, with a view
to getting an aweement with Argentina on the river boundary question. The
official significance of the declaration has been described as a reaffimation
of the historical determination of both nations to make this river one of
joint ownership solely for the two riparians. It also establishes a base line
- on which to measure the width of the territorial water over which Uruguay and
Argentina will exercise their respective sovereignty, as w-,,,311 as establishing
a basis for the definition of exclusive fishing zones and contiguous zones of
preferential rights.
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/10/23: CIA-RDP08001297R000800080016-1