Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Foreign Minister of Colombia Eduardo Zuleta Angel, General German Ocampo, Ambassador of Colombia Gonzalo Restrepo-Jaramillo, and S. T. Mills

2/2 DEPARTMENT OF STATE 128 b16 Memorandum of Conversation DATE: April 19, 1949 SUBJECT: Call of the Colombian Foreign Minister and Minister the THINK Defense on the Secretary of State ARCHIVES 'NATIONAL SERVICE** RECORDS AND PARTICIPANTS: The Secretary Sr. Eduardo Zuleta Angel, Colombian Foreign Minister Gen. German Ocampo, Colombian Minister of Defense Dr. Gonzalo Restrepo-Jaramillo, Colombian Ambassador S. T. Mills, MWC COPIES TO: s/s Eximbank through ED ARA Embassy Bogotá IA OFD ITP 1-1493 Dr. Zuleta Angel, the Colombian Foreign Minister for Foreign Affairs stated he wished to discuss two matters with me, arms for the Colombian army and loan applications by Colombia to the Eximbank and the International Bank. With respect to arms the Foreign Minister stated Colombia wished to reequip its army which during the course of the past year had been expanded from eight thousand to twenty-five thousand. Such arms, he pointed out, were needed in order to maintain internal order and not for use against other countries. Dr. Zuleta referred to the disorders which occurred in Bogotá during April 1948. At that time, he stated, the police force disintegrated so that at present the expanded Colombian army must act both as a police force and army. Although it might seem paradoxical, Dr. Zuleta stated the army was important to continental defense as well as for the maintenance of internal order. The reason for this is that if the Communists gain a foothold in Colombia, this will menace other countries; in his opinion it is absolutely essential that law and order be maintained in Colombia and the Communist Fifth Column menace neutralized. The expanded army exists today but it is not capable of fulfilling this task without proper arms and equipment. Dr. Zuleta referred to the fact that General Marshall, Mr. Armour, Mr. Harriman, Mr. Martin and Mr. Daniels were at Bogotá at the time of the riots last year. He stated they would not have to be convinced of Colombia' S needs. He added that DECLASSIFIED General Ocampo E.O. 10501