722.2315/1426
The Ambassador in Peru (Norweb) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 19.]
Sir: Referring to the Embassy’s despatch no. 845 of February 19, 1941, and to the Department’s airmail instruction no. 310 of March 8, 1941,14 which transmitted a memorandum of a conversation on February 28 between the Under Secretary and the Peruvian Ambassador in Washington regarding the Ecuador-Peru boundary dispute, I have the honor to report upon a conversation that I had yesterday with the Peruvian Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Dr. Solf y Muro informed me that there have been no recent developments in the boundary situation and that happily all is quiet in both countries. He said that this condition may be due in part to the fact that a good proportion of the territory in dispute is flooded at the present time so that any activity is almost impossible.
He told me that he had submitted a proposal to the Ecuadoran Minister of Foreign Affairs and that the new Ecuadoran Minister to Peru is supposed to bring a reply when he comes to Lima. The proposal embodied the following points: (a) both Governments should wipe out all that had been done during the year 1940 with respect to the boundary situation and should return to the conditions which existed in 1939; (b) the Mixed Commission might then discuss pending questions relating to the boundary situation, and during these discussions work might go forward looking toward a definitive solution; and (c) Peru at the same time would be disposed to cooperate with Ecuador on a program designed to improve relations between the two countries and to create an atmosphere favorable to a peaceful settlement of the boundary question.
… The Chief of Protocol informed us this morning that the Brazilian Government has requested the agrément for Pedro de Moraes Barros as Brazilian Ambassador to Peru.
Respectfully yours,
- Neither printed.↩