PM–12. Telegram from the Acting Secretary of State to the Embassy in Panama1
338. For Ambassador.
Deliver following message to President de la Guardia. Inform Department date and time of delivery:
April 6, 1959
“Dear Mr. President:
I have carefully read your letter and enclosed memorandum of March seventh,2 which were personally delivered to me by His Excellency Ambassador Ricardo Arias on March nineteenth.
In your letter you refer to the manner in which the United States is implementing the provisions of Item 1 of the Memorandum of Understandings Reached attached to the Treaty of Mutual Understanding and Cooperation, entered into by Panama and the United States in 1955.
I understand the importance of the matters which you so frankly and forthrightly present for my attention involving and affecting the close and friendly relations that exist between [Facsimile Page 2] our two countries.
As I am deeply interested in the status of relations between Panama and the United States and your statements are of such import, I have asked the appropriate agencies within this Government to undertake a careful and detailed study of the problems you present. The determinations made as a result of these studies will be made known to you and your Government at an early date.
I extend my warmest personal regards to you, Mr. President, and to your Government and the Panamanian people.
Sincerely,
Dwight D. Eisenhower”
White House does not desire make foregoing public. Notify Department as much as possible in advance should de la Guardia wish do so.3
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.19/4–659. Official Use Only; Limit Distribution.↩
- See Document PM–11, footnote 2.↩
- In telegram 448 from Panama City, April 13, Ambassador Harrington informed the Department of State that he had presented President Eisenhower’s letter to President de la Guardia that morning, and that de la Guardia did not intend to release the text to the press until he had received a further reply from Eisenhower. (611.19/4–1359)↩