840.50/2389a: Circular telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Uruguay (Dawson)7
In connection with the Draft Agreement for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, the Colombian Minister for Foreign Affairs has raised the question whether the clause “being United Nations or being associated with the United Nations in this war” would imply any change in the juridical and political status of Colombia vis-à-vis the war. The Colombian Government has sent telegrams to the Governments of Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela suggesting the sending of instructions to their respective Ambassadors in Washington to consult one another as well as the Department on this point.
[Page 42]The objective of the Colombian Government appears to be [to] find a formula to minimize or even to eradicate through the process of consultation the distinction now existing between the seven American republics which have broken with the Axis but have not declared war and the republics which are members of the United Nations.
The Department’s point of view is contained in the following telegram which is being sent to the American Ambassador at Bogota and which you may use as background in any discussions which you may have with the local officials.
[Here follows text of telegram No. 971, August 5, midnight, to the Ambassador in Colombia, printed infra.]
- Sent also to the Embassies in Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.↩