VENEZUELAN-COLOMBIAN BORDER DISPUTE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
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
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
August 12, 1973
Content Type: 
CABLE
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP08C01297R000700050019-2.pdf122.06 KB
Body: 
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/12/12 : CIA-RDP08C01297R000700050019-2 Cf D - 2- 745)1 BUN BY :ABLE !:,EC ,PEP _ 'ERSON,AJNI1 Norirwo. [DV NCE COPY 15SUI 0/SIC, rrLO -----?-- F kc-rioN e BY 1( II Al (:OPII / 9 Al . '11RN4 f 1 T 474182 PAGE 01 UrPROMIC,. II1CoN tV 011 WU I 'IAN .I5SUN4 01 Or ICC lb 14401 Mill err 2 TOR1211502Z AUG 73 STATE MESSAGE 25X1 NC 77440 RR RUEAIIB ZNY SSSSS ZOC STATE ZZH ESA797RSA748 RR RUEHC DE RUESRS #7216 2330055 ZN 6466-4ZWL___ 202346E AUG 73 -S-Y--C1RACAS TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 951 INFO RUESBG/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 1834 RULPALJ/USCINCSO BT -S---14---B?R?E?T?CARACAS 7216 EtO, 11652! GDS TAGS1OBOR VE CO 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 CABLE SEC DISSEM BY PEP 'tERsort, OW! NOTil' tro _ ppvAw:t. OI' OhLo I1:t*J ION UNIT IF. IL . VI1 , TOTAL COPIES RE.P.140DUCTION BY 01-1,1E0 THAN ISSUING OE E ICE IS .PROI-ii641TE0 STATE MESSAGE 3 ACTION t 0 T. 474182 PAGE 02?02 TOR1211302Z AUG 73 NC 77440 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