722.2315/1054: Telegram
The Minister in Ecuador (Gonzalez) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:25 p.m.]
25. The President has informed me of the receipt of a note from Peru formally charging a breach of neutrality by the entry of Ecuadorian [Page 49] troops in the Zarumilla neutral zone and adding that orders have been issued to repel by force any future incursions. The Ecuadorian Minister in Lima has been instructed to deny categorically this assertion.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs confirmed the foregoing. He is most perturbed over the situation and expressed the fear that any untoward incident in that district might be the cause of immediate hostilities. Inasmuch as the allegation is groundless it is interpreted as the forerunner to breaking off the negotiations in Washington.
The attitude of the President is most dangerous to peace in the Americas. He considers the negotiations fruitless and apparently is prepared to terminate them. He is even contemplating hostilities notwithstanding that he recognizes Peru’s superior strength and resources and anticipates Ecuador’s defeat, Regardless of these considerations he has convinced himself that armed conflict is the only alternative.
The President expressed the belief that the Department is preventing President Roosevelt from taking any positive action in the present impasse. He regrets this since without the President’s influence he considers that the negotiations must fail and that relations may be ruptured immediately thereafter.