723.2515/1438: Telegram
The Ambassador in Peru (Poindexter) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 11—11:25 p.m.]
41. Today I learn from a high source close to President Leguía that in view of the American answer to the Peruvian note, the Peruvian people and the members of Congress which convenes April 13 are generally opposed to participation in the plebiscite, and that the Government feels that it is in the most dangerous situation that it has ever been in. My informant tells me that many of the friends of the Government in Congress have turned against it because it is in favor of participating in the plebiscite, and that, should the Government name a Peruvian member of the Commission, there is danger that a revolution would be precipitated, and if Peru should participate and lose the plebiscite that the President and his supporters would be put to death. President Leguía and the President of the Chamber of Deputies are, nevertheless, determined at all costs to persevere and participate in the plebiscite. I was also told that if all the expelled Peruvians could be induced to return and vote, Peru would easily win the plebiscite, but that their fear of the Chilean military forces is so great in view of what they have suffered that they can not be induced to return to Tacna Arica without more explicit guarantees of protection. My informant also said that it is the popular impression that General Pershing will go to Arica with a civilian staff only, and that as the General does not speak Spanish and will be without adequate force to back up his authority, the Chileans will impose upon him and will have their own way in the plebiscite and in the preparations for it; he concluded by saying that a declaration from some official American source that Peruvians will be protected from outrage in the disputed region would have a most beneficial effect on both popular and governmental opinion in Peru; and that an announcement that General Pershing would go to the provinces accompanied by a war vessel and an adequate military guard to see that the terms of the award were observed and that all voters and the Plebiscitary Commission were protected would have a deeply beneficial influence on Peru’s participation in the plebiscite.
I was also told by the same informant that the Joint Committee of Foreign Affairs of both houses of Congress have taken over entirely the conduct of foreign affairs, leaving the Minister for Foreign Affairs without either authority or voice.