721.23/691a: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Peru (Dearing)
5. Please present at once following note to Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs:
“The United States Government has been advised by the Government of Brazil that the latter has now proposed to the Governments of Peru and Colombia, as a solution of the present misunderstanding between them, that Peru turn over to Brazil the Leticia territory which, after a short period will be restored by Brazil to Colombia on the understanding that both countries will then endeavor to settle their differences through conversations at the Brazilian Foreign Office, in which Ecuador might also be invited to participate, the Government of Brazil acting as mediator.
The United States Government has been advised by the Brazilian Government that the Colombian Government has signified its acceptance of this proposal but that the Peruvian Government has not yet signified that it is prepared to try to find a peaceful solution of the difficulty on this basis.
The Brazilian Government has requested this Government to make known its views in this matter to the Government of Peru.
The United States Government has noted that the Peruvian Government recognizes that the Treaty of 1922 is valid and in effect. In view of this the United States Government is confident that the Peruvian Government will welcome the honorable and decorous way suggested and offered by the Brazilian Government by which this matter may be settled. The United States Government feels that it expresses the sentiment of public opinion in this hemisphere when it states that it would learn with the greatest satisfaction that the Peruvian Government has accepted the proposal of the Brazilian Government above referred to.”
Advise your Brazilian colleague when note is delivered and cooperate with him in supporting Brazilian proposal and in endeavoring to have Peru accept it. In your oral conversation with Peruvian officials you may stress that the support of the invaders of Leticia by armed Peruvian forces is contrary to the obligations of the Peruvian Government under the Kellogg Pact22 and that Peru should welcome means now offered for extricating herself from her untenable position.
- Treaty for the Renunciation of War, signed at Paris, August 27, 1928, Foreign Relations, 1928, vol. i, p. 153.↩