721.2315/176: Telegram
The Ambassador in Peru (Poindexter) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:45 p.m.]
10. Your 8, February 28, 11 a.m. [p.m.] Immediately upon its receipt I requested and was granted an interview with the President and had a long conversation with him in which I urged all points suggested by you and presented fully advantages to Peru to lend aid in composing the differences between the three countries.
In respect to the third modification of the procès-verbal contained in the instructions of the Peruvian Government to Doctor Velarde the President agreed to substitute the following:
“Doctor Velarde then stated that he also was authorized by his Government to express its acceptance of the friendly suggestion which the Secretary of State had just made and that as a consequence of the assurances just given his Government would immediately advise the Peruvian Congress thereof—repeating at the same time its recommendation that it approve the boundary treaty with Colombia.”
The President was immovable in his insistence upon the first and second modifications of the procès-verbal and I was unable to persuade him to make any other change in his instructions the [to] Ambassador Velarde except that in the third modification of the procès-verbal just stated.
In the course of his conversation the President stated several times that if the procès-verbal should be signed by the representatives of the three countries in the modified form proposed in his instructions to the Peruvian Ambassador it was his intention to repeat his recommendation for the approval of the treaty and urge it upon the Peruvian Congress.
[Page 455]The President urges that if the language “immediately after the ratification of the above treaty” should be retained in the third suggestion of the Secretary of State as set forth in the proposed process-verbal it would immediately make Peru the object of pressure both by Brazil and Colombia and deeply involve her in the conflicting interests of those two countries. …
The President with a great gesture of earnestness and sincerity stated that he was willing to sign with Colombia and Brazil an agreement to submit all of the matters involved in the proposed procès-verbal to the Washington Government (meaning, I presume, the President) and stated that he was willing to sign for that purpose any protocol drawn up by the Secretary of State and emphasized again his trust and confidence in the Washington Government and his leadership in the policy of submitting South America[n] international differences to the arbitration of that Government.
I urged upon the President [omission?] maintaining that signing by the representatives of Brazil and Colombia under explicit instructions from their Governments of the agreement contained in the proposed procès-verbal would make it impossible for either of them to embarrass Peru in the manner pointed out by him or to involve Peru in the pressure of conflicting interests between those countries if Peru really desired the ratification of the treaty which had been signed by the Executives of the Peruvian and Colombian Governments. The President again asserted his desire that the treaty should be ratified and stated emphatically it was his intention to repeat his recommendation to that effect to the Peruvian Congress but reiterated his assertion that he could not possibly agree to the procès-verbal without the modifications stated above and I believe his position in this respect unalterable.
The possibility occurs to me of a supplementary and separate agreement between the representatives of Colombia and Brazil in respect to the matters affecting the rights only of those two countries, in view of the fact that President Leguía is agreeing to the only action required of the Peruvian Government by the procès-verbal, namely, to advise the Peruvian Congress of the withdrawal of the objections made by Brazil to renew his recommendation that Congress approve the pending treaty with Colombia.