811.24523/6–846: Telegram
The Ambassador in Peru (Pawley) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 9—2:50 a.m.]
655. President Bustamante this afternoon sent me drafts of two documents covering use of strategic airports. Accompanying the drafts was a memo stating that these drafts were purely intended for bases of discussion and did not constitute any obligation on part of either Govt; that they do not express officially opinion of Govt of Peru nor should it be implied that Peru is accepting in principle the United States Govt’s proposal; that upon the return of the Foreign Minister he and other Govt organizations with the President will arrive at an official decision and when accepted in principle with any proposed modifications will consult with the United States representative and then submit same to Congress for ratification.
Donnelly and I have carefully examined the above mentioned drafts and we believe that if the Congress will ratify these two documents [Page 1218] that then our Government will have a satisfactory working basis for the hire of Talara air base for a minimum of 5 years and possibly much longer. I hope Department of State and War Department concur in the reasonableness of the Peruvian Government plan which has been worked on for 4 consecutive days by President Bustamante and several members of the Cabinet working until the early hours of the morning in an effort to place the draft proposals in my hands prior to my departure for Brazil tomorrow morning, June 8.27 No finer bases of cooperation can be found than has been given us by the President and Cabinet. Letter follows addressed to Ellis Briggs.28