In pursuance of this request, the Department has prepared a draft of this
note46 which you are authorized to submit to President
Santos for an expression of his views. The text has received the
approval of the War and Navy Departments. You will please keep the
Department informed concerning your conversations with the President of
Colombia and report any alterations which he may desire to make in the
text.
[Enclosure]
Draft Note to the Colombian Minister for Foreign
Affairs (Lopez de Mesa)
Excellency: I have the honor to advise the
Government of Colombia, through Your Excellency, that the
appropriate officials of the Government of the United States have
approved the agreements arrived at during the staff conversations
held in Bogotá, September 10–26, 1940 between General L. M.
Castaneda, Chief of Staff of the Colombian Army; Captain F. C.
Riefkohl, United States Navy; and Lieutenant Colonel N. Randolph,
United States Army.
These staff conversations were designed to elaborate certain
cooperative measures which Colombia and the United States, each on
its own volition, and as a function inherent in its sovereignty,
might be able to take in defense of the two countries themselves and
of the Western Hemisphere. The measures have been adopted in
pursuance of the obligations assumed in the interest of continental
defense to which all the American republics subscribed at recent
inter-American meetings and in particular at the meeting of Foreign
Ministers held in Habana in July 1940. They include such measures as
liaison between the military and naval staffs of each country for
the defense of the American hemisphere, this liaison comprising
complete and effective exchange of information relative to
continental security and the establishment of adequate channels of
communication. In addition, each country agrees to adopt appropriate
measures relative to coast patrols and to render the other suitable
assistance of a military nature within the scope of its resources,
legal authorizations or available means, such as the training of
personnel and the lending of technical advisers. Other
[Page 24]
measures of this nature
relate to permission for visits of medical officers and aerial
photographers.
The United States will take such means as are at its disposal to
prevent attacks on Colombia by a non-American state while Colombia
will endeavor to prevent an attack from its territory on the United
States or its possessions, particularly against the Panama Canal. In
the event of attack by a non-American power, the United States,
should Colombia so request, will employ its armed forces to assist
in repelling any such attack while Colombia will supply timely
information and all possible facilities to the forces coming to her
aid. In the event that the United States sends its armed forces to
the help of another American republic as a result of a request or of
an inter-American consultation, to the decision of which Colombia
has given its approval, the latter will give all possible facilities
to United States forces advancing to the assistance of the attacked
country.
These measures have been adopted in an atmosphere of inter-American
solidarity and in a spirit of mutual helpfulness. They have been
drawn up and approved by both governments in the realization that,
in view of the conditions prevailing throughout a large portion of
the world, the United States of America and Colombia should
cooperate to preserve their sovereignty and independence against
non-American aggression.
Accept, Excellency, the assurances of my most distinguished
consideration.
