811.24522/11–847
The Ambassador in Ecuador ( Simmons ) to the Secretary of State
No. 6219
Sir: I have the honor to refer to previous correspondence concerning training maneuvers which the United States Navy Department was contemplating carrying out in the vicinity of the Galápagos Archipelago, using Seymour Island as a base.
The Ecuadoran Foreign Office was notified by this Embassy on October 27, 1947, of the contemplated plans. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. José Vicente Trujillo, returned the original note and suggested that it be made a request for permission to carry out the operations, rather than that it be a mere notification. The Embassy on October 30, and before any further communications had been passed concerning this matter, advised the Foreign Office that the Navy Department had cancelled its plans for these training operations.
[Page 687]Yesterday evening, November 7, the Foreign Office delivered to the Embassy two antedated memoranda, No. 252–DDP dated October 28, 1947, and No. 253–DDF dated October 31, 1947, the first setting out clearly that the Government of Ecuador denies that there is any understanding in existence for the unlimited use of the waters in the vicinity of the Galápagos Islands by United States Forces, and stating further that mere notification of the intention to carry out operations in this area is not sufficient but that, in case the Government of the United States desires to do this, formal request through diplomatic channels should be made. The second memorandum is merely an acknowledgment of our two notes and refers to what had been stated on the subject.
Copies and translations of the memoranda No. 252–DDP and No. 253–DDP are transmitted herewith for the information of the Department.39
No further communication is being sent to the Foreign Office on this subject for the present. Further comment on this matter will be forwarded to the Department in a subsequent despatch as soon as it can be prepared.
Respectfully yours,
- Neither printed.↩