710.G 1A/158½
The Colombian Minister (Lozano) to the Assistant Secretary of State (Caffery)
My Dear Mr. Caffery: Thinking over the subject of our last conversation, I wish to sum up here my ideas, which are, in all essentials, those of the Government of Colombia.
As it has already been decided by the Governing Board of the Pan American Union that the Montevideo Conference is to meet next December, it seems natural to make an effort to the end that some result useful to this continent and to mankind may be obtained from its deliberations and resolutions. And there is nothing more in accordance with this idea than an immediate development of the thesis set forth by His Excellency, Mr. Roosevelt, in one of his great speeches: the arrangement of a pact effective in maintaining peace among nations. He has said: “That all the nations of the world should enter into a solemn and definite pact of non-aggression: That they should solemnly reaffirm the obligations they have assumed to limit and reduce their armaments, and, provided these obligations are faithfully executed by all signatory powers, individually agree that they will send no armed force of whatsoever nature across their frontiers.”16 On this basis, a program of effective action could be completed and results could be attained that would bless the world and would cover with honor the already historic Roosevelt Administration. One of [Page 11] its natural results might be the drawing up in a clear and exact form, free from discussions and hermeneutics, of the definition that may be given in American International Law of the “aggressor country.”
When fighting has been going on with fury in the Chaco for a year, when the unparalleled Leticia case has come up and there are so many reasons for the world to be uneasy and concerned about peace, with the train of consequent depression to business, would not that Pact be the beginning of a wholesome reaction for all peoples?
I believe so and I can assure you that if the United States Government should wish to initiate the saving effort at the Montevideo Conference the Government of Colombia would second it very decisively.
Why should not America take a step forward that may be decisive and that would by all means be opportune, in defense of peace?
I send you my best wishes [etc.]
- Original text restored; complete text of the President’s message on disarmament, May 16, 1933, is printed in vol. i, p. 143.↩