722.2315/738
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (White)
The Minister of Ecuador called to discuss more fully than he had done with me by telephone on Wednesday the desire of Ecuador to be admitted to the negotiations regarding the Leticia matter. He said that while Colombia alleges that there will be no boundary questions discussed in these negotiations he thought that this matter was bound to be discussed and Ecuador would like to be in on those discussions. I showed the Minister a memorandum giving the text of a telegram which the Department was prepared to send to our Embassy in Lima and our Legation in Bogotá instructing them to present the matter to the Peruvian and Colombian Governments, with a statement at the end that this was all this Government could do in the matter. The Minister read over the memorandum and said that he agreed fully with the text of the communications to Peru and Colombia,12 and also agreed that in doing this this Government had done all it could do. I gave him a copy of the memorandum and then signed the telegrams to our Missions in Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador regarding the matter.
- See telegram No. 53, infra.↩