722.2315/737b: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in Colombia ( Dawson )13
53. Please present following as an aide-mémoire to the Minister of Foreign Affairs:
“The Government of Ecuador has advised the United States Government of its very ardent hope that its boundary question with Peru may now be promptly settled and of its conviction that this can best be done in conjunction with the negotiation to take place between Colombia and Peru in settlement of the Leticia controversy. It was the thought of the Ecuadoran Government that a general settlement of all interests in the Upper Amazon at this time would be conducive to the best interests of all the parties concerned.
The Ecuadoran Government has asked the Government of the United States to make known to the Governments of Colombia and Peru the desire of the Ecuadoran Government to be admitted to the conversations between the two Governments.
The United States Government is glad to comply with this request of the Ecuadoran Government by bringing the desires of that Government to the friendly consideration of the Governments of Colombia and Peru feeling sure that they will want to hear and examine fully the point of view of the Ecuadoran Government”.
For your information only, in advising the Legation in Quito of the above action it was instructed as follows:
“Please advise the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the action taken by this Government, adding that the United States Government feels that in bringing in this way Ecuador’s views to the attention of the Colombian and Peruvian Governments the American Government has done all that it can do in the matter and that any further representations concerning the matter in either Bogotá or Lima must be carried on by the Ecuadoran Government itself. The American Government can do nothing further in the matter. A similar statement has been made to the Ecuadoran Minister in Washington”.
- The same telegram was sent, June 2, 3 p.m., to the Ambassador in Peru as No. 67.↩