Mr. Beaupré to Mr. Hay.

No. 622.]

Sir: * * * Transit in the country is as difficult as ever. In the case of foreigners desiring passports the authorities are very strict, indeed. On the appointment of General Fernandez as minister of war he issued a note stating that all foreigners were to be considered as enemies of the Government, and that passports were on no account to be granted to them. This order had the effect of confining foreigners to the capital for a time, although it is a notorious fact that native “amigos del Gobierno” were allowed free transit during that period. Fortunately, before the result had become seriously prejudicial an arrangement was made that all foreigners requiring passports should produce a certificate of neutrality from their respective legations countersigned by the minister for foreign affairs. Up to the present time this procedure has worked successfully. The Colombian foreign office has been notified that all foreigners applying for such certificates will be considered as neutral so long as no proof shall be shown to the contrary.

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Postal and telegraphic communication is still very slow. The line to Buenaventura, the cable station on the Pacific, works by fits and starts. The director-general explains this as being due to a band of guerrillas near Honda, whose business it is to cut the telegraph wires. The Government is sending out and bringing in mails with more regularity and frequency, but owing chiefly to the slow transit on the Magdalena River it is not safe to figure on much less than two months for the going or coming of correspondence for Washington.

I am, etc.,

A. M. Beaupré.