1. Mr. Welles referred to the oral understanding which we now
have with President Santos to permit, in the event of an emergency,
United States forces to enter Colombian territory and Colombian ter-
ritorial waters and expressed the hope that this arrangement could
be continued with the government of Dr. Lopez. Mr. Welles said
that Mr. Lane had fully explained to him Dr. Lopez' views and added
that we wished to follow the President-elect's wishes as to the man-
ner in which the arrangement should be worked out. Dr. Lopez then
explained that . . . he preferred to take Congress and the nation into
his confidence so that in case the necessity should arise he could state
that he had consulted Congress, or at least the Committee on Foreign
Relations. He expressed the conviction that the Colombian people, re-
gardless of party affiliations, enthusiastically supports the present
policy of collaboration with the United States but in order to avoid
possible future criticism of his government and of the United States he
would prefer to have either authority from Congress to take emer-
gency measures or an informal understanding with the Foreign Af-
fairs Committee to take the action which President Santos had taken at
our request. Mr. Welles enquired whether the present arrangement
with President Santos could be considered to be in effect until such
time as a new arrangement were made with the government of Dr.
Lopez. The President-elect replied in the affirmative.
  2. Dr. Lopez said that he had been somewhat worried by the status
of military and naval observers attached to some of the American Con-
sulates in Colombia. These observers were known officially as as-
sistants to the consuls but this subterfuge was generally public
knowledge. Mr. Lane said that the Army and Navy would prefer to
come out into the open in any way desired by the Government of
Colombia. The present arrangement had been made between Presi-
dent Santos and Ambassador Braden. Mr. Welles then emphasized
that the activities of all representatives of other United States Govern-
ment departments should be known to the American Ambassador and
should be entirely under the latter's control; furthermore that Mr.
Lane should keep the Colombian Government completely informed re-
garding such activities. Mr. Welles also specified that all the informa-
tion obtained by our agents should be put at the disposition of the
Colombian Government; that the names of all agents would be fur-
nished to Dr. Lopez after his inauguration; and that all agents would
cooperate with the Colombian authorities in such manner as Dr. Lopez
might indicate. Mr. Welles assured Dr. L6pez that our activities had
only one aim: the defense of the hemisphere.
  3. Mr. Welles said that we had just received a request from General
Andrews to endeaver to obtain permission from the Colombian Gov-
ernment to establish a base in Colombia, on the Caribbean, for the pur-



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