810.20 Defense/9–1945
The Ambassador in Colombia (Wiley) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 4.]
Sir: …
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Despite some insignificant changes in the program which resulted from the fact that the beginning of these conversations coincided almost to the day with an overall shift in the Cabinet which included the bringing into the Ministry of War a new minister, it is notable that the conversations began and were carried on through to the final day in an atmosphere that was characterized at all times by a feeling of mutual cooperation by both parties to the conversations; indeed, the entire atmosphere was one of complete cordiality and the Colombians at all times, without exception, were willing to do everything within their power to cooperate along the lines of the suggestions previously made when plans for the conversations were being drawn up.
It is felt that the presence, initially, of high United States Army and Navy officials did much to assure the success of the conversations. It was, therefore, regrettable that Admiral Beardall and General Homer, because of the pressure of their duties in the Canal Zone, had to leave Bogotá so soon after their arrival; especially was this so because the Colombian General Staff had planned official receptions and other types of social functions in honor of these officials during the evenings of the latter part of the week. Nevertheless, I do not wish to imply that the absence of these officials in any way hindered the technical success of the conversations.
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It will be remembered that prior to the actual inauguration of these conversations, the United States commission had prepared a formal list of questions, the answers to which had been requested from the Colombian authorities as a basis for the final study, before approval by the respective staffs. It is my pleasure to report that the Colombians, who apparently had been working night and day on these questions, were able within a period of two days to complete the entire list for the Americans. All of this involved a gigantic amount of work, the completion of which in an extraordinarily able and efficient manner, is patent proof of the desire of the Colombians to cooperate in every phase of the undertaking. The Colombians gave specific data on the present standing of their forces frankly and, apparently, with [Page 855] out trying to obscure any facts whatsoever, whether favorable or unfavorable.
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The United States Commission presented four or five different plans for the organization of the Colombian armed forces, which the Colombians appreciated very much. It so happens that they themselves had also formulated a plan which upon further study was found to coincide almost exactly with the ideas expressed by Col. DeVos for which the latter very quickly complimented the Colombians for having completed. It was felt that since this matter worked out as it did, the matter of organization for the Colombian forces would be very much more easy to work out than had been anticipated.
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Respectfully yours,