Editorial Note
On January 7, 1952, representatives of the United States and Peru initiated negotiations at Lima for a bilateral Military Assistance Agreement. Documents pertaining to the negotiations are in Department of State file 723.5 MSP. The Agreement was signed on February 22, and entered into force on April 26, 1952; for text, see Department of State Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) No. 2466, or United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (UST), volume 3 (pt. 2), page 2890.
Concurrent with the negotiations for a Military Assistance Agreement, representatives of the United States and Peru conducted negotiations for a related bilateral military plan. The “Plan of the Governments of the United States of America and Peru for their Common Defense” was initialed at Lima also on February 22, 1952, and transmitted to the Department of State under cover of despatch 893, dated February 25, 1952, not printed (723.5 MSP/2–2552).
From the effective date of the Military Assistance Agreement, United States military missions in Peru performed the functions of a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) on an interim basis. In early February 1953, the Department of Defense recommended the establishment in Peru of a separate MAAG consisting of four officers and four entlisted personnel at a total cost of $93,000 for an 18-month period. On February 9, the Department of State instructed Ambassador Tittmann to undertake negotiations with the Peruvian Government to secure its consent to provide local currency to cover the administrative and operating costs of the MAAG (airgram A–200, dated February 9, 1953, 723.5 MSP/2–953). In telegram 314, from Lima, dated February 26, 1953, Ambassador Tittmann reported that the Peruvian Government agreed to pay the amount requested by the United States (723.5 MSP/2–2653).