721.23/587b: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Peru (Dearing)
84. Maúrtua today sought out White and said that his suggestion for a solution of Leticia matter is as follows:
For the representatives of Colombia and Peru in Washington to sign immediately a protocol in which Peru will specifically recognize the validity of the 1922 treaty and that Leticia is Colombian and that the Peruvians who took the town on September 1st and the Loreto troops who backed them up should not have done so.
In order to put an end to this usurpation of authority as peacefully and as quickly as possible the two Governments will send a joint commission at once to Leticia to endeavor to persuade these Peruvians to evacuate the town. If the commission is unable after say a month’s efforts to bring this about Peru will agree to advise those Peruvians that the Peruvian Government does not support them, call on them to get out while they still may do so without danger to themselves, and publicly declare that Peru will offer no obstacle to Colombia retaking the town by force.
The protocol will then provide that after Colombia has reestablished her authority in Leticia negotiations will at once be opened regarding the landlocked strip of territory on the upper Putumayo which the 1922 treaty gave to Peru and which Peru states it is unable to take possession of because the Colombian-Ecuadoran boundary commission laying the boundary between those countries under the [Page 307] treaty of 191630 drew the line not as stipulated in the treaty but in such a way as to make access to that strip of territory inaccessible to Peru except through Colombian and Ecuadoran territory.
In case the two countries after a reasonable time to be agreed upon are unable to reach an accord on this point the matter will be submitted to arbitration.
The protocol will definitely stipulate that in the negotiations to succeed the reestablishment of Colombian authority in Leticia as well as in the possible arbitration to follow, Leticia and the surrounding territory will not be mentioned as this territory is definitely recognized as Colombian.
White inquired whether Maúrtua was making this proposal on the authority of his Government. The latter replied that he was not but that if White would support it he would take it up with his Government and try to get a favorable answer within 48 hours. White asked him to do so.
In your discretion discuss this matter discreetly with Minister of Foreign Affairs and see whether Maúrtua’s suggestion meets with the views of the Peruvian Government and whether they will promptly authorize him to proceed on that basis.
- British and Foreign State Papers, vol. cx, p. 826.↩