821.6363 Barco/146: Telegram
The Minister in Colombia (Piles) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5 p.m.]
73. My numbers 67, August 12, 6 p.m., and 69, August 17, noon, and Department’s 42, August 15, 2 p.m.
Minister for Foreign Affairs called on me and stated he had been misquoted by the press and sent me in support thereof a copy of the Anales of the Senate of the session of August 11. These Anales, which are brief summaries of the proceedings of the Senate, contain only a brief paragraph concerning the remarks of the Minister for Foreign Affairs in reply to questions whether negotiations had been carried on between the Government and Morrell14 and whether the [Page 630] present administration had continued the negotiations at my suggestion to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The paragraph reads as follows in literal translation:
“The Minister for Foreign Affairs stated that the first part, i. e., relative to Mr. Morrell, is true but that the second is not as the fact is that the Government rejected the intervention of the American Legation because the matter involved a Colombian company and suggested only that if the holders of the concession wished to renew negotiations they should appoint a representative with full powers in Bogotá.”
On the basis of the foregoing he desires me to expunge from my note my statement of the facts concerning Mr. Stabler’s visit to Bogotá and has requested me to send this telegram. Full particulars with respect to his wishes are being forwarded by hydroplane upon receipt of which I hope the Department will instruct me.
- Presumably Albert Richard Morrell, attorney-in-fact of the Compañía Colombiana del Petróleo.↩