722.2315/2562: Telegram
The Ambassador in Peru (Norweb) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6 p.m.]
627. For the Under Secretary. My telegram No. 610 November 14, 4 p.m. The Brazilian Ambassador has informed the Argentine Ambassador and me and is reporting to his Government regarding a conversation he had with the President yesterday. The President repeated his conviction that the three mediatory Governments can effectively aid Peru and Ecuador to reach a rapid and definitive solution of the boundary dispute. Prisoners will be liberated soon and a conciliatory official communication will be published at the time [Page 243] as a first step in creating a favorable atmosphere for the continued efforts of the friendly Governments. The President promised the Brazilian Ambassador to initiate a press campaign by means of official statements which would have a calming effect and which would prepare public opinion for the acceptance of a possible solution upon a realistic basis. Internal political factors prevent the Peruvian Government from assuming responsibility for agreeing without qualification to the status quo line of 1936 as a basis for negotiations in the Oriente.
The Brazilian Ambassador reports that after more than 2 hours of conversation with the President he is convinced that if the three friendly Governments can obtain the agreement of Ecuador to the formula recently suggested to the Ecuadoran Ambassador at Washington by the representatives of the three friendly countries a decisive step will have been taken toward a rapid and definitive solution of the boundary dispute.
I asked the Brazilian Ambassador if he had mentioned to the President the matter of territorial compensation to Ecuador in the Oriente. The Ambassador replied that the President had evaded his question on this subject and had said that Peru does not like to use the word “compensation”.