721.23/2284: Telegram
The Minister in Colombia (Whitehouse) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:25 p.m.]
28. My 27, May 11, 1 p.m. President sent for me this afternoon and explained in detail the points under discussion at Rio.
Three of the difficulties are minor. The first is that Perú while expressing regret for the events that occurred wishes to add “although she has no responsibility for them”. The second is how to arrange for the respective demilitarization. The third refers to the powers of the commission. Perú wants the commission to have power to make a definite resolution regarding indemnification for any infraction of the agreements if within 90 days after notification the offending Government shall not have taken the necessary action. The Colombian Government is afraid of giving such power to the commission and desires that the commission’s resolution shall not have executive force and to be able to take the matter to The Hague if necessary.
The fourth and most serious is in substance [what] the Minister for Foreign Affairs told me this morning. The President gave me the text of article No. 7 of the Mello formula. After the preamble which is acceptable to both parties it reads as follows: “Sole article. In this case the High Contracting Parties bind themselves reciprocally to agree between themselves as to the means of execution of the sentence. If they do not reach an agreement the same Court shall ordain under the terms of article 38 of the respective statute.” Or as an alternative to the second sentence “If nevertheless they do not reach an agreement there is attributed to the same Court besides its ordinary competence the faculty of making effective the sentence in which has been declared the right of one of the contracting parties”. The President said Colombia could not accept the first but possibly the second. Colombia had however proposed a substitute as follows: “In this case the parties recognize that the Court can determine the form in which its sentence is to be executed.”
While he knew I had seen the Minister for Foreign Affairs this morning the only reference he made to Peru’s reservations in adhering [Page 354] to the Court was to say that if Perú wished to annul their reservations that was Peru’s affair and could not be objected to by Colombia which had made no reservations to its act of adherence.