721.23/1714
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs (Wilson)
Mr. George Rublee, Special Financial Adviser to the Colombian Government, came in. Mr. Matthews67 was also present. Mr. Rublee showed me two telegrams he had received from President Olaya, the gist of which was that Olaya felt the United States Government should make some supreme effort to end the conflict between Colombia and Peru, and that if such an effort were made at this time it would succeed. I asked Mr. Rublee if he knew exactly what President Olaya had in mind, or if he had any suggestions himself. Mr. Rublee said no, he did not know whether Olaya had anything definite in the way of a plan in mind; he was unable himself to think of anything which this Government could do at this time to help along a settlement.
I said that Santos was now discussing at Geneva the new Lester formula, together with Olaya’s counter proposal. We felt the counter proposal was reasonable, and had so advised our representative at Geneva as well as our Embassy in London. There was nothing further we could do for the moment on these points. I did not see any action we could take in Lima at this time which would be helpful. Benavides68 had just come into office after Sánchez Cerro’s assassination, his position appeared none too stable, and any reiteration of our pleas made to Peru in the past to accept the Brazilian proposal or the League’s recommendations would doubtless do more harm than good. Mr. Rublee said he agreed and saw nothing which we could do at the present time, but in view of Olaya’s telegrams he had simply wished to come in and discuss the matter.
This seems simply another instance of Olaya’s almost pathetic conviction that this Government is omnipotent and can settle anything if it so desires.