PERU BY R.J. OWENS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000700120021-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 21
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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? Royal Institute of International Affairs is an
Ocial and non-political body, founded in 19.2o
mcourage and facilitate the scientific study of ?
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rnational questions. The Institute, as such, is . . - .?
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luded by the terms of its Royal Charter from , .,..:?:.,,:,,..?.
ressing an opinion on any aspect of international
irs. Any opinions expressed in this publication' ? '-' , ",:f.'...,e,..i
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. are. not, therefore, those of the Institute. : - ???:.::?.
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ERU
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by
R. J. 9WENS
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Issued under the auspices of the
Royal Institute qf International Affairs
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
1963
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CHAPTER XI: ?
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FOREIGN RELATIONS
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THE TERRITORIAL DISPUTE *nit ECUADOR'. :??
THROUGHOUT her history as a repuyic Peru ,has been be-
devilled by a series of boundary disputes. A principle fre-
quently invoked by Latin American states involved in such ?
disputes is that of uti possidedis, that is to say that each state is
entitled to all the territory formerly, under the jurisdiction of , '
the colonial administrative area out of which it was formed.":
This doctrine has not, however, been, recognized as having -
any validity in international law. Thee colonial boundaries,
moreover, traversed so much country that was practically un-
explored that they were very vaguely and inaccurately d&
fined. Areas of thousands of square miles might thus be in dis-
pute, each party being ready to support its claim with bulky ;
dossiers of colonial documents defining', jurisdiction and trea.: '
ties concluded between the independent states. When Peru's
dispute with Bolivia over the Acre-11,4dre de Dios area Was -
submitted to Argentina early this century for an arbitral de-;
cision on the basis of uti possidetis, the iirbitrator came to the
conclusion that neither side could show'Isufficient proof in stip-,
port of the line it claimed. The award :Vas therefore made
1909) on equitable, not legal, grounds; ? ?
For much of the nineteenth century the' debatable lands hi'
South America continued to be sparsely populated and under-
developed. But when economic interests? such as mineral rights
or access to the sea or to navigable rivers were at stake, dis-
putes could become dangerously embittered. The 'nitrate
war' of 1879-84 is a case in point. 8 The possibility of develop- ;
ing petroleum deposits in the north-west of the Amazon basin
is an important factor in Ecuador's lor-standing territorial
10n this doctrine, see R. A. Humphreys, The; Diplomatic History if British
Honduras 1638-190r (London, OUP for RIIA, 1961), pp. :79-8o, an G. Ire-
land, Boundaries, Possessions and Conflicts in South America (1938), pp. 321-9. .
Ireland, pp. 104-7. 3. See above, PP. 46-49. ? '
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176 Peru
claim against Peru; for access to Iquitos would enable her to
export petr )1eum without the expense of building trans-
Andean pi r elines. This is, however, only one of the issues in
a highly complex dispute which has lasted over a hundred
years.
The dispUted area originally comprised most of the basin
of the Maranon or upper part of the Amazon. During the
colonial period this region was administered as the province
of Jaen y Bracamoros and the Comandancia General of
Maynas. The province of Jaen, situated in the northern part
of the Peruvian Sierra and traversed by the deep valley of the
upper Maranon, came under Peruvian jurisdiction from the
time of independence by the wish of its inhabitants. Maynas
was the vast tract of Selva extending to the western limits of
Brazil, a region which is still very little developed except along
the rivers. At present the area in dispute has been reduced to
some thousands of square miles on the north bank of the
Maranon. Apart from the rubber boom of half a century ago
no discoveries of major economic importance have been made
here. Why "then, it may be wondered, have both countries
contested sovereignty over these areas for so long? The ques-
tion can be answered partly in terms of national pride, partly
in terms of the complicated leellasiLit the dispute, and
partly in terns o ecomf-gelerf:interest.
Before thi present Republic of Ecuador came into being,
the territor) which now comprises it was part of the Royal
Audiencia ?Quito, and, subsequent to the Wars of Inde-
pendence, a part of the Confederation of Gran Colombia. In
1830 Ecuadar seceded and became an independent republic.
As was the case with the newly formed republics Ecuador was
jealously proud of her territorial sovereignty and determined
to maintain its integrity. Over the years, however, Ecuador
has been' obliged to cede territory to Brazil (1904) and
Colombia (1832 and 1916) as well as to Peru. Her territorial
area has shrunk from 272,516 square miles in 1832, after her
separation from Gran Colombia, to 111,168 square miles
after the Protocol of Rio de Janeiro in 1942.4 Ecuador's un-
4 See L. Linke, Ecuador ('955), pp. 178-80, and Rufino Marin, Las tres bombes
de tiempo en Andrica Latina (Guatemala, 1959), PP. 93-148. For the 1942 protocol
,
1
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hable her to
[ding trans-
the issues in
a hundred
of the basin
During the
he province
General of
irthern part
valley of the
:on from the
rits. Maynas
ern limits of
Acept along
I reduced to
bank of the
century ago
been made
Foreign Relarons 177
successful boundary disputes with Brazil and Colombia
stiffened her resistance in the dispute with Peru. Unless she
held out in this case, she felt, she NA buld be territorially con-
fined to the Pacific coast and the mountains. In the second
place, since Ecuador's losses have bOn in her eastern region,
she has been denied access to the Amazon and hence, ulti-
mately to the Atlantic. Thirdly, geo!ogical explorations in the
Amazonas region have suggested the possibility of petroleum
deposits in the disputed territory. Finally, the complexity and
geographical vagueness of the colcnial documents on which
Peru bases her legal claim to the diTuted territories have al-
ways cast doubt on the Peruvian case in Ecuadorean eyes.' For
her part Ecuador bases her claim on a treaty signed between
Peru and Colombia in 1829, following the defeat of Peru by
Colombia in a war, one of the reasons for which was Peru's
alleged usurpation of Jaen and Maynas. Ecuador claims that
on attaining independence in 1830 she automatically in-
herited Colombia's alleged rights td the disputed territories, a
considerable portion of which originally formed part of the
th countries Audiencia of Quito. ,
? The ques- The Peruvian case is based on five main points. (i) The mi-
)ride, partly tial formation and constitution of the Peruvian state con-
lispute, and forms to the principle legally recognized as applying to the
other South American states at the time of gaining indepen-
. into being, dence, i.e. uti possidetis. (2) Peru has maintained uninter-
,f the Royal ruptedly her constitutional existence since 1821. (3) Through-
ars of Inde- out this period she has had territorial possession of the areas in
'olombia. In dispute. (4) Peru first recognized the independent existence
.nt republic. of the Ecuadorean Republic in a i treaty signed by the two
ticuador was countries in 1832, in which Ecuacbr confirmed the Peruvian
determined possession of Jaen and Maynas. (5) Ecuador has failed to pro-
er, Ecuador duce any acceptable legal evidence which denies Peruvian
(1904) and sovereignty,
er territorial Throughout the nineteenth cenzury relations between the
32, after her two countries were poor. War broke out in 1858, and an un-
quare miles
uador's un-
Las tres bombas
te 1942 protocol
see World Peace Foundation, Documents on American Foreign Relations, 1941-1942
(Boston, WPF, 1942). ,
;
6 Doubt, for instance, exists as to the validity of the Royal Ctclula of 15 July
1802, one of the key documents on which Peru bases her claim. (See Ireland,
P. 180
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1
178 Peru
easy peace was once more threatened in 1887, when, in an at- fu
tempt to settle the dispute once and for all, both countries sub- a)
mitted it to the 'King of Spain for arbitration. Proceedings is
dragged along slowly, and when it became apparent that the fil
award would prcbably be in favour of Peru, Ecuador started ar
a movement against arbitration. Relations again deteriorated m
and a war was averted only by the mediation of the United
States, Argentina, and Brazil. The King of Spain withdrew V;
from the dispute in 1910, for fear of precipitating armed con- P)
flict between the two countries, and the mediating powers un-
successfully tried to persuade Ecuador to submit the question th;
to the International Court atThe Hague. A further long-drawn- bo
out attempt to settle the matter by arbitration, this time with
the President of the United States as arbitrator, failed finally
in 1938, and relations between the two countries again de-
teriorated to the point where border skirmishes took place. fel;
Fighting had already broken out in 1935 over the tobacco- pr(
growing land on the Pacific coast where a shift in the course of ne)
the Zarumilla riv z had altered the former frontier. Tension ter,
was still high wh,.,n the Second World War broke out; and me
once again the United States, Argentina, and Brazil offered wa;
their 'friendly se!Nices'. The frontier incidents continued, dit)
however, and in 941 Peru crossed the border and occupied val
Ecuadorean territory, remaining there until 1942 when the del
mediating powers drew up an agreement?the Protocol of Rio Thi
de Janeiro?whereby Ecuador accepted a new frontier by rich
which Peru gained some 70,000 square miles of the disputed
territory, and agreed to the setting up of a mixed commission cnoonu,
to mark the frontier boundaries. There is little doubt that obv
pressure was brought to bear on Ecuador to sign the Protocol S,
of Rio. The United States was anxious not to have a separate in fa
war raging within the hemisphere at a time of major conflict in gray
Europe. I
; larg
After the boundary commission had marked goo of the 947 the j
miles of boundary; work was stopped by an Ecuadorean claim R ,
that the agreed fine from the San Francisco caftan along the mad
watershed between the Zamorra and Santiago rivers to the ing i
confluence of the Santiago and the Yaupi did not correspond
to the real topography and was impossible to apply. Peru re- itnradi(;
N
4),
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Foreign Relations 179
? n at- fused to listen to the various proposals put forward by Ecuador
sub- and the guarantor states to resolve this latest( delay. Her case
lings is that there is no problem any more, since everything was
t the finally settled either in 1942, or by the special arbitrator then
Lrted appointed to decide on minor differences that might arise in
rated marking the frontier.
aited In the autumn of 1959 the then newly elected President
drew Velasco Ibarra of Ecuador unilaterally denounced the Rio
con- Protocol and revived his country's claim to all territory occu-
s un- pied by Peru which lay north of the upper Amazon and east of
stion the Andes. Thus, after more than a century of negotiation, the
awn- boundary dispute seems as far from solution as ever.
with
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RELATIONS WITH OTHER LATIN AMER: CAN STATES
The border dispute with Ecuador, and a; certain coldness
felt towards Chile since the days of the Pacific War, did not
prevent Peru from entering into an agreement with these
neighbouring countries in 1952 on a matteF of common in-
terest, their maritime resources. Under the tcrms of this agree-
ment the three countries claim territorial i ghts over coastal
waters to a distance of 200 miles. Peru arues that the tra-
ditional 'three-mile' rule has never had vny international
validity, and that each Government has the power freely to
determine the nature and extent of its maritime dominion.
The fishing grounds off the Peruvian coast are exceedingly
rich and provide a natural food resource for Peru's under-
nourished population. Therefore, the Government claims, the
conservation and protection of these fishing grounds is its
obvious duty.
So far there has been no serious test of thi large claim and,
in fact, permission to fish in 'Peruvian' wators is fairly readily
granted to foreign-flag vessels. It is difficult to see how such a
large stretch of water could ever be patrolled adequately by
the Peruvian fleet.
Relations with Brazil are friendly, and ax attempt has been
made to increase trade between the two cou ntries by develop-
ing their Amazon border regions. Under an, agreement signed
in 1957 a special commission is considering ways to increase
trade and stimulate economic developmerit in the region by
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