701.2123/38
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Colombia ( Caffery )
Sir: The Department refers to your air mail communication to the Ambassador at Lima under date of March 17, transmitting a request from the Colombian Minister for Foreign Affairs that the Embassy at Lima make a report for the Colombian Government concerning the circumstances surrounding the sacking of the Colombian Legation in that capital on February 16, last. Copies of your communication and of that of the Colombian Foreign Minister were transmitted to the Department by Ambassador Dearing with a request for instructions in the premises.
[Page 560]The Department desires you to take an early opportunity to discuss this matter informally with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and point out to him that while in the exercise of good offices this Government is glad of course to take all appropriate action on behalf of Colombian interests and nationals in Peru, it would seem improper for our Embassy to make a report concerning the sacking of the Colombian Legation prior to its assumption of good offices and during the time when a Colombian Minister duly accredited was still in Peru and a witness to all the circumstances of the attack on the Legation.
You may also suggest to the Foreign Minister that should he desire to take up the alternative contained in his request under reference, namely, that the Apostolic Nunciature at Lima be requested to make such a report, it would seem more appropriate for him to take up the matter through the representative of the Holy See at Bogotá.
Very truly yours,
[The American Embassy in Peru continued to represent Colombian interests in Peru until the arrival of the new Colombian Minister at Lima on August 3, 1934, and the consequent resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries.]