432. Letter From the Secretary of State to the United States Representative at the United Nations (Lodge)1
Dear Cabot: I appreciate your thoughtful letter of May 25 reporting Ambassador Urrutia’s call upon you regarding a statement made by Assistant Secretary Holland to Colombian Ambassador Zuleta Angel.2 I can assure you that we have the very highest regard for the invaluable support Colombia and its representatives have given to policies of the highest importance to us.
It would appear from your letter and from the memorandum prepared by Ambassador Urrutia that the United States had failed to cooperate with Colombia under the military assistance program. This, of course, is not the case. Following the UN and OAS Resolutions on collective measures,3 the United States proposed and offered to sign bilateral military assistance agreements with a number of Latin American governments, and to provide grant military assistance pursuant thereto. Such a bilateral agreement was entered into with Colombia on April 17, 1952. … With regard to the antiaircraft battalion, deliveries of grant aid equipment have been completed. The infantry battalion was the one that Colombia had in Korea and its equipment valued at roughly one-half million dollars was turned over officially to Colombia in November 1954. With regard to the fighter squadron, which involved 14 planes, all have been delivered. About one-half of the bombers for the light bomber squadron have also been delivered. The naval modernization program has been carried out as agreed.
Assistance for three infantry battalions, one infantry marine battalion and two naval units mentioned in Ambassador Urrutia’s memorandum would involve very extensive grant aid in addition to that described above.
Ambassador Urrutia’s memorandum indicates that United States military and naval missions and Admiral Miles4 have recommended these units. The Department on two occasions has asked for the [Page 873] formal opinion of the Defense Department regarding additional military assistance for Colombia and has made a number of informal approaches. The answer in each case has been negative. The concluding paragraph of a letter from the Defense Department on February 4, 19555 indicated that the Department of Defense cannot consider favorably the furnishing of all or any of the additional military assistance required by Colombia. The reason given for this decision was that the Colombians are neither satisfactorily utilizing grant equipment already furnished them under the Military Assistance Agreement with Colombia nor could they be expected properly to support additional equipment in any volume.
I can assure you that thorough and sympathetic consideration has been given to all of the Colombian requests. It is possible, and the Assistant Secretary so advised the Colombian Ambassador, that a complete survey will be made by the Defense Department of the United States military aid program and that this might result in some change in the present situation. If you feel that Ambassador Urrutia is not aware of the actual assistance which has been given to Colombia as outlined in this letter, I suggest that you may wish to pass it on to him in general terms and without mentioning specific deliveries or the secret plans.
Sincerely yours,
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 721.5–MSP/5–2555. Secret; Personal. Drafted by Atwood.↩
- Not printed. (Ibid.)↩
- Apparent references to U.N. General Assembly Resolution 377(V) of November 3, 1950 (commonly called “Uniting for Peace”) and to the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (commonly called the Rio Treaty) of September 2, 1947. For text of the U.N. resolution, see Yearbook of the United Nations 1950, pp. 193–195. For text of the Rio Treaty, see 62 Stat. 1681.↩
- Rear Admiral Milton E. Miles was Director of Pan-American Affairs, Department of the Navy. He had been a delegate to the Inter-American Defense Board until 1954.↩
- See footnote 7, Document 424.↩
- Printed from a copy which bears this stamped signature.↩