710 Consultation 4/9–847
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chairman of the United States Delegation (Marshall)
| Participants: | Dr. Lleras Camargo, Director General of the Pan American Union |
| Secretary Marshall | |
| Mr. Norman Armour |
At my request Dr. Lleras Camargo, Director General of the Pan American Union, called to see me at 12: 30 p.m., August 28. I endeavored to call on him but his apartment was in disorder.
Mr. Armour was present during the call.
I asked Dr. Camargo what his reaction was to the progress of the conference and he expressed great satisfaction in what had been done. I then questioned him as to whether or not there was any particular point regarding which he was a little dubious. He brought up the matter of handling the preliminary phases of a military break between two American states. He felt that in its present draft form the treaty did not sufficiently take care of the situation which could easily result in a long debate while the troops of one country occupied a position in the other. He felt that the first enforcement under the treaty should be that the belligerents withdraw their forces within their own boundaries.
It developed that an informal agreement had been reached that this would be the procedure but its inclusion in the treaty had been opposed (Mr. Armour and I understood) by Peru. We told Dr. Camargo that we would talk the matter over with Senator Vandenberg who of course was intimately familiar with the discussions and the drafting regarding this matter. No other points were brought up.
Later it developed that the expression “the troops of belligerents should withdraw to their own boundaries” had actually by mistake been included in the draft.