and for this reason it was decided to entrust the Ninth Conference with the final decision.

From the Conference at Bogotá, our System will emerge reorganized, consolidated and strengthened in every respect. New standards and principles will be laid down for the permanent guidance of our regional organization of the future. This is why Bogotá will be known as the point of departure for the third stage of the InterAmerican System.

The significance of the Ninth Conference, therefore, is obvious. It will constitute the beginning of a new era in our international life. And it is for this reason that I have stated that the Bogotá Conference will be the most important interAmerican assembly since the one held at Washington in 1890, over half a century

ago.

II. Juridical relation between the Inter

American System and the United Nations Having sketched the background of the Ninth Conference, I shall now proceed to the second part of the subject, that is, the juridical relation between the InterAmerican System and the United Nations. It may appear that the second point has no connection with the first. Although the connection is not a logical one, they are, nevertheless, bound together, for the reason that the relationship between the regional system and the world system will inevitably be discussed at the Pogotá Conference, and particularly at the Conference scheduled to meet at Rio de Janeiro.

At the time the United Nations was established it was agreed, with the concurrence of the American countries, to centralize certain activities in the new World Organization, for the purpose of giving it greater strength and efficiency. In doing so, we created certain obligations

for ourselves. These obligations are embodied in the basic instrument of the United Nations, the Charter. It is this instrument that defines the scope and form of coordination and correlation between the American regional system and the world system, and it is to that document, therefore, that we must look to ascertain the nature and extent of the obligations undertaken, and the manner in which they are to be fulfilled.

If we examine the Charter closely, we will find that the pertinent articles do not cover the question of integration in all its aspects, but in one only, that of international peace and security.

This circumstance is due to the fact that this was the only field in which the World Organization was given general and in some respects exclusive jurisdiction.

The reason for this decision is apparent if we consider the primary purpose for which the United Nations was created.

The creation of the United Nations was the result of the determination of the victorious nations to establish an effective mechanism for preventing, at all costs, a repetition of the disastrous events which scourged the world during recent years.

The dominating idea in the mind of everyone at the Conference at San Francisco in 1945 was that such a catastrophe must never occur again, and to convert this powerful idea into a living reality, international peace and security must be maintained by stable and lasting means.

The principal objective of the United Nations is, therefore, the maintenance of international peace and security. This is its reason for being, its mission, and its responsibility. All other activities will be subordinated to this end.

When the United Nations adopted the Charter, the premise was agreed upon that international peace is indivisible, and that

to maintain it effectively there must exist some supreme authority.

Many of the Latin American delegates were in favor of the continuation of the autonomy and independence which the Inter-American System had always enjoyed in its practical operation. This was the viewpoint of the minority, however, and in the end even those of this opinion decided to cast their vote for world integration in matters having to do with the preservation of peace, in view of the marked tendency to unify and centralize world authority in this field within a single agency.

In the Charter of the United Nations Articles 52-54 of Chapter VIII deal exclusively with regional agencies and arrangements for the maintenance of peace and security, and Articles 33 of Chapter VI and 51 of Chapter VII also bear on the subject.

Article 33 places the solution of disputes by regional agencies or arrangements on the same plane as other methods of pacific settlement.

Article 51 is particularly important, because it is under this article that the InterAmerican System is authorized to act in certain circumstances without the necessity of obtaining prior consent from the Security Council. In fact, it is from this article that the power of the American countries is derived to act, within the restrictions of the Charter, in accordance with the Act of Chapultepec or the Treaty which may be adopted to convert that emergency measure into a permanent peace instrument.

The articles referred to are the only ones which impose restrictions upon the operation of the Inter-American System. These restrictions, however, apply only to the maintenance of peace and security, and even then only when the use of coercive measures is involved.

The American States may continue to settle their differences on their own initiative, by means of any of the peaceful proIcedures which already exist in the InterAmerican System. As a matter of fact, it is the duty of the United Nations to encourage the settlement of local controversies by means of regional agencies or arrangements.

It is true that Articles 34 and 35, referred to in paragraph 4 of Article 52, provide that the Security Council may investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute, and that any State may bring any dispute, or any situation of this nature, to the attention of the Security Council or of the General Assembly. This may be interpreted as a contradiction of what has been said before, but it should be noted that with respect to these two articles the jurisdiction of the Security Council was interpreted in San Francisco as extending only to the investigation of the dispute, to determine whether or not a situation exists which might disturb international peace and security, and not to the replacement or duplication of the efforts made by the regional agency to solve disputes by peaceful methods.

In any event, if the Security Council should attempt to intervene in the solution of an inter-American dispute, it must be remembered that when it goes beyond the discussion stage the Council would have to obtain the approval of the five countries which are permanent members, for if one of the permanent members exercises its right of veto the Security Council could not assume jurisdiction over the dispute.

Further examination of the Charter shows that the American States cannot take enforcement action on their own initiative. Such action must be previously authorized by the Security Council, ex

cept in the two following cases: (1) Signatories of the Charter may take any action, within the limits prescribed in the Charter, against a State which was its enemy in the Second World War; and (2) any State or group of States, in the exercise of its inherent right of individual or collective self-defense recognized in the Charter, may take action on its own initiative, in case of armed attack, until the Security Council has taken the necessary measures to maintain international peace and security. The only obligation of the country or countries concerned in this case is to inform the Security Council immediately of the action taken.

The second exception indicated is the one which affects the operation of the treaty that may be adopted to give permanent form to the provisions of the Act of Chapultepec.

To summarize the foregoing: the Charter makes it unequivocally clear that, in case of armed attack, the American Republics may act on their own initiative, individually or collectively, under the conditions laid down in Article 51. It is equally clear, in accordance with Article 52, that the American Republics may settle their controversies by means of their own procedures. As to the application of sanctions or the taking of enforcement action, however, they do not enjoy the same freedom of action. In this intermediate stage, the situation is an anomalous one, because the American States cannot apply sanctions against one of their own number, unless the Security Council previously authorizes them. It might happen that when authorization was requested from the Security Council, or even when the Council itself decided to assume jurisdiction, one of the permanent members would veto it, or there would not be a sufficient number of votes. In such a situation neither the American States nor the International Organization

itself would be in a position to act. This intermediate step, therefore, presents an obstacle to the sure and swift settlement of purely inter-American conflicts in their different stages.

The provisions just briefly analyzed furnish the standards which must guide us in readjusting the Inter-American System to the requirements of the World System. This readjustment is obligatory, for it is imposed by agreement, embodied in a treaty to which all members of the Pan American Union are parties.

The regional organization of the Americas will consider this matter of integration or coordination at the two conferences mentioned: The Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security, to take place at Rio de Janeiro at a date yet to be fixed, and the Ninth International Conference of Amercan States, to be held at Bogotá next January.

The first will have as its single purpose the incorporation into a treaty of the principles and procedures which were embodied provisionally in the Act of Chapultepec, in order to give them permanent force. These principles and procedures have to do with the maintenance of continental peace and security, a field in which the Charter of the United Nations imposes clearly defined restrictions. The Conference of Rio de Janeiro will consequently have to coordinate or harmonize the provisions of the Act of Chapultepec with those of the Charter of the United Nations. What these provisions are, and the nature of the limitations which it will be necessary to consider in drafting the mutual-defense treaty, have been indicated in previous paragraphs.

The second conference, or the one to be held soon in Bogotá, will be devoted mainly to the reorganization of the InterAmerican System and to the consolida

tion into a single instrument of all the existing methods for the peaceful settlement of international disputes.

With regard to the first aspect of the work scheduled for Bogotá, the United Nations Charter contains no restrictive provisions. As to the second aspect, the Charter merely requires that regional agreements be consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations. The existing regional agreements for the pacific settlement of disputes, therefore, remain in force, and may be applied with complete independence. In fact, the World Organization itself is required to encourage the application of these agreements in the first instance. It will only be necessary to harmonize or link the two systems of pacific settlement, the world and the regional, in order to avoid any conflict or inconsistency between them.

The Bogotá Conference, however, will go further. At this Assembly it is planned to establish cooperative relations with the corresponding agencies of the World. Organization in every field of activityjuridical, economic, social, and cultural.

The basic principles that are to govern these relations have already been formu

The principles approved by the Governing Board of the Pan American Union are as follows:

1. The specialized inter-American organizations that function within the System shall establish the closest cooperative relations with similar world organizations, effectively coordinating and harmonizing their activities in order to achieve their common purposes.

2. Specialized inter-American organizations, on entering into agreements with international organizations of a world-wide character, shall maintain their identity and position as an integral part of the Inter-American System, even when exercising regional functions for the said international organizations.

3. The Governing Board of the Pan American Union, as the agency responsible for "the effective functioning of the Inter-American System and the solidarity and general welfare of the American Republics," shall intervene whenever it may deem it necessary in the negotiation of any agreement between the specialized organizations of the Inter-American System and similar organizations of the world system, in order to preserve unity in the coordination of efforts and activities as among those organizations.

DR. Félix Nieto del Río is Chile's distinguished Ambassador to the United States and its Representative on the Governing Board of the Pan American Union. Since January 27 of this year, when he replaced the Honorable Marcial Mora, he has been representing the government of President Gabriel González Videla in Washington.

Dr. Nieto came well equipped for his new position. It is of interest to note that almost at the outset of his diplomatic life (1918-1920) he was an attaché of the Chilean Embassy in Washington, which he now returns to head. In the meantime he has acquired a store of valuable experience in international affairs, built up in many countries and in many responsible positions. His political gifts and knowledge of international law have found expression at the League of Nations, at the United Nations, and at many interAmerican conferences, as well as in other posts. It should be recalled that it was Dr. Nieto who obtained Bolivian assent to the mediation of the Chaco War.

The Ambassador has also written a great deal on international matters for publications in his own country and outside. For many years he has been a contributing editor of El Mercurio, a leading Santiago daily, and was at one time Director of the Revista Chilena (Chilean Review). He is, besides, the author of Crónicas Literarias, La Independencia del Brasil y el Ideal Republicano, and an essay on History of the Commercial-Political Relations between Chile and Argentina.

Dr. Nieto, now fifty-eight years old, is a native of Cauquenes, in the Chilean Province of Maule. He studied at the University of Chile and the Catholic University of Santiago, and holds the degree of Bachelor of Laws and Political Sciences as well as an honorary degree from the University of Southern California.

Dr. Nieto entered the diplomatic field in 1915 as Attaché to a Special Mission to Buenos Aires. Two years later he was Attaché to the Chilean Legation in Cuba. From 1918 to 1920, he was connected with the Chilean Embassy in Washington, first as Attaché, later as Secretary ad