Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1933, The American Republics, Volume IV

721.23/781: Telegram

The Ambassador in Peru (Dearing) to the Secretary of State

Lima, January 18, 1933—10 p.m.
[Received January 19—4:20 a.m.]

31. Reference Department’s telegram No. 14, January 18, 1 p.m., translation.

[“] Brazilian Legation, Lima,
January 13, 1933, No. 1.

Mr. Minister: By order of my Government I have the honor to transmit the following to Your Excellency:

The aggravation of the situation resulting from the insurrection of the first of September last and consequent to the deposition of Colombian authority at Leticia by Peruvian insurrectionists has caused the Brazilian Government, out of its love for American peace as well as on account of its interests growing out of its position as a neighbor to the instigators of the conflict, to attempt a friendly mediation near the respective Governments to find a solution which respecting the principle of inviolability of treaties will offer an honorable formula of settlement guaranteeing permanent peace in that region.

Notwithstanding the Colombian Government having declined in friendly fashion our first offer stating that what had occurred at Leticia was a purely internal affair and that accordingly it could not be the subject of discussion with other governments, we returned to the matter later after a previous understanding with the Peruvian Minister in Rio de Janeiro and offered our mediation to the two Governments on the ground of danger of a disturbance of the peace between them and especially having in mind our duties growing out of our brotherly friendship for both countries to which we find ourselves bound by treaties which reaffirm it and consecrate it. With this thought in mind the Brazilian Government proposed to the Government of Colombia through its Minister in Rio de Janeiro the following:

1. The Peruvian Government, although it had nothing to do with the origin of the uprising of the first of September in Leticia, will give its entire moral support and will use its persuasive influence with its neutrals residing in that region so that the territory in question may be confided to the keeping of the Brazilian Government, which will administer it provisionally through a delegate or delegates in whom it has confidence.

2. As soon as possible the Brazilian authorities will replace in their positions the Colombian officials deposed by the insurrectionists.

3. In compensation the Colombian Government agrees that immediately afterwards delegates from the two countries shall meet in Rio de Janeiro with the technician they deem necessary for the purpose of considering the Salomon-Lozano Treaty³⁴ in a broad spirit of conciliation for the purpose of finding a formula susceptible to reciprocal acceptation and which shall include economic, commercial and cultural measures which may constitute a closer moral bond in the form of a territorial statute adequate for such purpose and peculiar to that region.

This formula appears to the Brazilian Government to be an honorable one for the two noble countries in conflict because it will permit an ample and friendly understanding between them with the assurance that a perfect and durable peace will be reestablished in that region.

The Colombian Government giving an example of elevated American and pacific feeling accepted our suggestion. This being the case, my Government has instructed me to urge upon Your Excellency the hope it feels that our mediation under the terms formulated in this note will be accepted by the Peruvian Government also which has always contributed to the harmony among the nations of the continent.

I have the honor to renew to Your Excellency, Mr. Minister, the assurance of my highest consideration.

(Signed) A. de Ipanema Moreira

Attested a true copy
Sr. Angel de Castro.”

Manzanilla’s reply (note No. 1, dated January 16th) began by quoting back in full the Brazilian note and then continued:

“I feel most profoundly flattered by this just recognition of the political traditions of Peru and for this recognition I beg you to accept my gratitude and to transmit to your Government in the most expressive form possible my thanks for the noble and generous interest which has been aroused in it by the present difficulties that have arisen, much to our regret, with Colombia.

Already in its first proposal of mediation which Your Excellency’s Government made to our Minister in Rio de Janeiro the thirtieth of December last, it was decided (se consignó) in addition to the engagement to obtain from Colombia in spite of the Fluvial Convention of 1928³⁵ that its flotilla would not advance beyond Belem de Para, to call together immediately in Rio de Janeiro a conference between the interested countries to discuss not only the Treaty of the 24th of March 1922 but in general all the existing conventions, and to find the way to bring about definite modifications with the opinion and support of the jurists who should thoroughly examine the old disputes and establish the basis for a solid treaty carefully thought out and of frank and loyal friendship between the brother countries; and the delivery of Leticia to an illustrious delegate of Brazil or to a mission specially sent so that within a period which was to be fixed by common accord Leticia would be delivered temporarily to Colombia while in Rio de Janeiro the Salomon-Lozano Treaty would be reconsidered to [as?] the basis of a new treaty would [to?] be laid down under the constant and friendly mediation of Brazil. To this benevolent suggestion we replied accepting it but with the modification required by national dignity and the internal situation in Peru, and especially in Loreto, that Leticia would not be returned to Colombia; and replying to suggestions from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Brazil which merited on our part the most especial deference, we accepted also the third of the present month the proposal that the Colombian authorities expelled from Leticia the first of September might go back there as simple private individuals.

In the meantime 2 days had gone by since the Colombian flotilla had departed from its anchorage at Belem de Para and had begun to move up the Amazon on the way to Leticia and the Putumayo and there appeared for the first time upon the initiative of the Minister of Colombia in Rio de Janeiro the idea of fixing a definite period for the duration of the negotiations which, it was hinted, should be 90 days, so that it might be decided to whom Leticia should be delivered at the end of this period. Our reply was favorable to the length of time suggested which in case of inconclusiveness of the negotiations we were disposed to extend or prolong for 30 days more, but upon clear condition that if these periods should go by without an agreement having been reached the situation of Leticia would have to go back to what it is at present, since having been delivered to Brazil as a sacred pledge, the depositor had the right to the restitution of the thing deposited.

For the purpose of eliminating the resistances that might be provoked by the situation of Leticia if the negotiations should prove inconclusive, we put forward the idea of a formula of a period of no definite length which would make it unnecessary to fix the condition of Leticia at the end of the negotiations and which would also facilitate the arrangement and permit a measure of calm to settle upon every one so the negotiation would be more cordial and effective.

Subsequent to the foregoing I received Friday last the important proposal contained in Your Excellency’s note No. 1 which represents a retrocession in the conditions which had previously been discussed for the mediation, such as the restitution of Leticia in the shortest possible time to the Colombian functionaries who had been deposed by the insurrectionists, and the commitment, in compensation, of a simple meeting of the negotiators of the two countries in Rio de Janeiro to consider the Salomon-Lozano Treaty in generic form without fixing in any manner the main object of the deliberations. This was all the more worthy of attention when it is recalled that since the thirtieth of November last this Ministry had received through an official representative of Colombia, among other points of view, (1) to the effect that this country would declare that as soon as a legal regime had been reestablished in Leticia and the adjoining territory, Colombia would be disposed to receive in Bogotá a Peruvian embassy to examine the possibility and convenience of introducing into the Salomon-Lozano Treaty such geographical modifications as the parties shall agree upon according to the compensations system and on the unquestioned basis of the juridical status of the treaty in force. Notwithstanding this, and moved by its unalloyed desire to preserve the peace of the continent, and out of its great appreciation for the friendly intervention of the Brazilian Government, my Government has no objection to promising its moral support to the end that the territory in dispute shall be confided to the provisional administration of a Brazilian delegation, and asks only that this administration shall continue until a definitive arrangement is reached between Peru and Colombia and that it make clear the main objective of the negotiations in Rio de Janeiro, which is, that all modifications shall be agreed to in the boundary line of the Salomon-Lozano Treaty so as to avoid the conflicts which may be produced by the uncertain concept of a territorial statute within this order of ideas. The modification which we ask of the second of the clauses proposed could be accomplished by the setting up of a mixed commission composed of Peruvians and Brazilians who will proceed to Loreto to place themselves in contact with the inhabitants in general, and with the occupiers of Leticia in particular, for the purpose of discovering during a period which shall not exceed 60 days, their opinions as to the possibility of the return of the deposed Colombian officials as a means for facilitating precisely the realization of the nationalist aspirations of the Loretanos. The initiative for the setting up of this mixed commission proves the earnest desire to cooperate with Brazil in her efforts although my Government believed that in Loreto the desire exists that the Colombian authorities shall not return to Leticia.

The Government of Peru in accordance with its honorable traditions accepts resolutely the mediation of the Brazilian Government in order to contribute once more to the harmony of the nations of the continent and trusts that the modifications suggested in the second clause proposed and the clarification of the third, inspired as they are by the same noble proposals animating Your Excellency’s Government, will be appreciated by it as the sincere and efficacious collaboration they really are in the cause of the peace of America and the consolidation of the brotherly friendship between Peru and Colombia which we have so much interest in maintaining.

I beg to renew to you, therefore, Mr. Minister, the assurances of my high and distinguished consideration.

(Signed) J. M. Manzanilla.”

Dearing

34. For correspondence concerning the treaty signed March 24, 1922, between Colombia and Peru, see Foreign Relations, 1923, vol. i, pp. 351 ff.; for text, see League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. lxxiv, p. 9; see also Foreign Relations, 1925, vol. i, pp. 461 ff.
35. Treaty of Limits and Navigation between Brazil and Colombia signed at Rio de Janeiro, November 15, 1928, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. c, p. 123.