810.20 Defense/1806: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Peru (Norweb)
551. Your 705, December 21, 11 p.m. The War and Navy Departments advise that there is “an apparent threat” to the security of the installations of the Talara oil fields and state that it is now a matter of the greatest urgency that a patrol based at Talara be established. Please leave no stone unturned, therefore, to expedite the decision of the Peruvian Government with respect to the request conveyed in the Department’s 540, December 20, noon. For your information and although for military and naval reasons it is not possible to define what is meant by “an apparent threat”, the implications of the phrase are believed to be obvious. The establishment of the patrol at Talara and the protection of the oil fields and installations there are of as vital interest to Peru as to the United States. Please impress upon the Peruvian authorities that they and we are now confronted with a situation in which speedy action is essential from the standpoint of the common interests not only of the two countries but of all the other American republics.
With respect to the concern of the Foreign Minister at the prospect of Peru’s taking a stand prior to the Rio conference, you may inform him for his strictly confidential information, if it seems desirable, that other of the American republics have extended to this country exactly the same facilities as those being requested of Peru.