Office of the Historian

CO–23. Memorandum of Conversation, by the Officer in Charge of Colombian Affairs (Gerberich)1

Washington, September 23, 1959

SUBJECT

  • Bilateral Air Agreement with Colombia

PARTICIPANTS

  • Julio César Turbay, Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • José Gutiérrez Gómez, Colombian Ambassador
  • Mr. Rubottom, ARA
  • Mr. Silberstein, WST
  • Mr. Gerberich, WST/CO

Dr. Turbay said that, as we were aware, the Colombian Congress has not yet ratified the Bilateral Aviation Agreement, signed in 1956, which entered provisionally into force in January, 1957. He said that he has encountered opposition to it for the following reasons: (1) it was negotiated and signed by the Rojas Government; (2) it provides that the Agreement enters into force provisionally from the date of signature, whereas under Colombian law all agreements enter into force from the date of ratification; (3) there have been some questions raised regarding flight frequencies. On this last point Dr. Turbay was not at all precise.

Mr. Rubottom said that we have been concerned with the failure of the Colombians to ratify the Agreement. We have believed all along that the negotiations were carried through to a successful conclusion after all legal and constitutional provisions had been carefully considered and observed. We have been at great pains to satisfy the Colombians when they have raised any questions in connection with the Agreement, the most recent of these being our activity in urging that approval of Avianca’s landing permit be expedited. He urged that the Foreign Minister take whatever steps he appropriately could to urge ratification by the Colombian Congress.

With regard to the specific questions raised by the Foreign Minister Mr. Rubottom offered to arrange for a meeting between the Colombians and our aviation technicians before Dr. Turbay returned to Colombia. It was accordingly decided that Department officers would meet with [Typeset Page 354] the Foreign Minister and the Colombian Ambassador at the Embassy residence at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, September 25.2

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.2194/9–2359. Official Use Only. Drafted by Gerberich on September 29; initialled by Rubottom.↩
  2. On September 25, a group of Department of State officers, including Henry T. Snowdon, Chief of the Aviation Division, Silberstein, and Gerberich, met with Foreign Minister Turbay and Ambassador Gómez to discuss further the pending bilateral aviation agreement. During the discussion, Turbay elaborated the points he made to Rubottom two days earlier. The memorandum of the conversation held on the 25th, prepared by Gerald W. Russell of the Office of Inter-American Regional Economic Affairs on September 29, records the outcome as follows:
    “The Foreign Minister then said that he wanted to be in as good a position as possible to answer his Congress when presenting the Agreement and requested an official memorandum
    (a) Pointing out that the agreement is similar to 52 others
    (b) Explaining the spirit of Article 4
    (c) Outlining how the U.S. would view investments and loans, in so far as ownership and control are concerned; and
    (d) The U.S. view on frequencies.
    It was agreed that such a memorandum would be made available to the Colombians in the near future.” (611.2194/9–2559)    ↩