VENEZUELAN-COLOMBIAN BORDER DISPUTE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000700050019-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 28, 2012
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: August 12, 1973
• Content Type: CABLE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/12/12 : CIA-RDP08C01297R000700050019-2
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STATE MESSAGE
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NC 77440
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SUBJECT! VENEZUELAN..COLOMBIAN BORDER DISPUTE
1, I ASKED CALVANI IF PRIVATELY HE COULD GIVE ME AN ESTIMATE
OF:WHERE VENEZUELA AND COLOMBIA STAND IN RESPECT OF THEIR,
BOUNDARY NEGOTIATIONS, HAVING IN MIND THAT THE COLOMBIAN
FONMIN HAD TODAY POSTPONED HIS DEPARTURE FOR BOGOTA BY
TWELVE HOURS,
2, CALVANI SAID THAT THE CONVERSATIONS HAD BEEN FRIENDLY BUT
TOUGH, A SOLUTION WAS NOT RPT NOT YET IN SIGHT.'HB SAID THERE
WERE THREE FACTORS TO BE WORKED OUT AND EACH SEEMED TO BE
EQUALLY DIFFICULT, THE FIRST PROBLEM WAS DELIMIATATION OF THE
DISPUTED TRIANGLE IN THE GULF OF VENEZUELA WHOSE SHORE BASE LINE
ACTUALLY IS ONLY 35 KMS LONG, HOWEVER. DEPENDING ON WHETHER
ONE TOOK THE VENEZUELAN POSITION OF A "CONVEX" DELIMITATION
OR THE COLOMBIAN POSITION OF A "CONCAVE" DELIMITATION, THERE
WERE VAST DIFFERENCES IN PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES BECAUSE IF ONE
ACCEPTED THE COLOMBIAN THEStS AND ADOPTED THE COLOMBIAN,
INSISTENCE ON EQUAL DIVISION OF THE DISPUTED TERRITORY IT WOULD
GIVE THE COLOMBIANS A VASTLY INCREASED AMOUNT OF CONTINENTAL
SHELF, WITH MY LIMITED SOTRE OF FOREIGN SERVICE GEOMETRY
I DID NOT GET INTO THE POSITION OF DEBATING CONVEXITY OR CONCAVITY
AND I DID NOT THINK THAT CALVANI WANTED TO ENTER INTO THIS LINE
OF INQUIRY ANY MORE THAN Ii
I Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/12/12 : CIA-RDP08C01297R000700050019-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/12/12 : CIA-RDP08C01297R000700050019-2
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3, THE SECOND PROBLEM WAS THE HISTORICAL FEELING OF VENEZUELANS
THAT THEY HAD ALWAYS BEEN "DONE IN" BY THE COLOMBIANS; AND
HERE CALVANI RATTLED OFF A SERIES OF HISTORIC AWARDS
AND ARBITRATIONS WHICH IN VENEZUELAN EYES AT LEAST HAD CONVINCED
THE POPULACE HERE THAT THEY HAD. BEEN ON THE SHORT END OF, THE STICK
ANY TIME THEY GOT INTO TERRITORIAL DISPUTE WITH COLOMBIA.
I SAID IT SEEMED TO ME AS IF THE VENEZUALANS HAD ALMOST
A PAVLOVIAN REACTION IN DEALING WITH COLOMBIANS, BUT WHEN
I INQUIRED WHAT KIND OF REACTION THE COLOMBIANS HAD IN DEALING.
WITH THE VENEZUELANS, CALVANI REPLIED "THEY ARE EMOTIONAL
TOO." HE ADDED, "THE COLOMBIANS HAVE A COMPLEX ON OIL.
THEY DO NOT FORGET THAT THE AREA OF ECUADOR WHICH IS NOW
PRODUCING PETROLEUM USED TO BELONG TO COLOMBIA AND THEY HAVE
THEREFORE AN AGGRAVATED SENSE OF THE SUPPOSED MINERAL WEALTH OF
THIS DISPUTED TRIANGLE IN THE GULF OF VENEZUELA."
4, THE THIRD POINT WAS AN OBVIOUS COROLLARY ON OIL. AND ON THIS
ONE CALVANI ADMITTED THAT IS INTEREST IN PETROLEUM WAS
EQUAL TO THAT OF COLOMBIANS?.! HE SHOWED HE. A PHOTOGRAPHIC
MAP OF THE GULF OF VENEZUELA TAKEN BY A U.S, SATELLITE AND SAID
DRAMATICALLY. "THIS IS THE HEART OF OUR COUNTRY."
5, I SAID I HAD HAD THE IMPRESSION IN TALKING WITH
VAZQUEZ CARRIZOSA WHEN WE WERE IN MARACAIBO LAST -MONTH
THAT PERHAPS NO AGREEMENT COULD BE REACHED BEFORE THE
ELECTIONS BOTH HERE AND THERE. TO MY SURPRISE, HOWEVER.
CALVANI RESPONDED THAT HE THOUGHT IT NOT BEYOND THE REALM
OF POSSIBILITY THAT AN AGREEMENT COULD BE REACHED BEFORE THE
VENEZUELAN ELECTIONS; AND PE THOUGH HE MIGHT GO TO BOGOTA
NEXT MONTH, MCCLINTOCK
SECRET
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/12/12 : CIA-RDP08C01297R000700050019-2