719.2115/7

The Acting President of Panama (Porras) to the Assistant Secretary of State (Phillips)

My Dear Mr. Phillips: As the Colombian Treaty seems to have been definitely drafted and is now before the Senate waiting for its ratification, the Government and people of Panama are concerned [Page 74] about the provisions of that document, specially as in all probability mention will be made in it of the boundary line between Panama and Colombia.

Owing to that circumstance I feel it my duty to inform the Government of the United States through you, that Panama is in a position to prove her rights to a boundary line that will follow the Atrato river from its mouth in the Atlantic ocean to a point in the hinterland in a straight line with Cape Corrientes in the Pacific ocean. That line will comprise within the borders of Panamá a region pointed out as a possible competitor of the Canal Zone, as it affords a suitable route for another interoceanic canal.

. . . . . . .

Belisario Porras