721.23/639
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (White)
I called in Señor Maúrtua this afternoon and in view of telegram 238, December 21, midnight, from Lima and the difficulty that had arisen between Maúrtua and Guzman I showed him my memorandum of my conversation with him on the 20th instant31 and asked him to read it and tell me any way in which I misrepresented him.
After reading it he said that I had an excellent memory and had put everything down in substance and though I had got his ideas clearly there were some points of difference in wording. I told him that wording, even though a small detail, is of the utmost importance and that in order to avoid any misunderstanding I would like him to tell me exactly how I had misinterpreted him.
He said that the introductory paragraph concerning his observations about our general Latin American policy represented purely his own personal views and not those of his Government. It might look from my memorandum as though he were soliciting the help of the United States Government in this matter. He has not been instructed or even authorized by his Government to do so. In this connection he said that Freyre had cabled the Peruvian Government that I was very much opposed to the action Peru had taken and that they could not expect any support from me and that therefore he did not expect that he would get instructions to ask us to take the matter up.
As to his proposal he began at once to hedge about the recognition [Page 310] of Leticia as Colombian. I told him that that was what he had said and that his Government in notes to the Colombian Government and to the Permanent Commission here had recognized that the treaty is perfectly valid. He said that that was quite true, that it all depended on how it is said, that one has to take into account the susceptibilities of Governments and he thought it would be sufficient to say that Peru would cooperate with Colombia to get the Loretanos out of Leticia. This would indicate of course that Leticia was Colombian. I told him that that was different from what he had proposed the other day. He said that that was the substance of what he had wanted to convey.
He also said that it was his idea that the Joint Commission should go not only to Leticia but to the Peruvian province of Loreto as well. I told him that that had not been mentioned by him to me and that I did not know whether that would be acceptable to Colombia or not. I personally doubted whether Colombia would want to do so as she has no concern with Peruvian internal affairs but merely wants the Peruvians who have illegally usurped authority in her country to get out. Maúrtua said that on the contrary it would be helpful to Colombia as the Commission would go not only to Colombian territory but to Peruvian as well. I said that if he wanted to put that in the proposal that was something to be discussed with the Colombians.
Maúrtua also objected to mentioning any definite time limit for the negotiations such as I had suggested of one month. He thought this should be left indefinite. I told him that I disagreed with him, that the Colombians would naturally want to know that these negotiations would not drag on indefinitely and that some time limit would have to be attached to it.
Maúrtua asked if he might take a copy of my memorandum and send me a statement of just what he had said. I told him that I thought our conversation had not brought forth that I had incorrectly interpreted what he had said but that if he was not willing to stand by his own proposal as I had it set forth in the memorandum I wished he would take a copy and put in writing so there would be no misunderstanding whatsoever exactly what he would stand by. He said he would do so. I asked him to try to get it back to me tomorrow.
- Not printed.↩