THE , Part 2

By Fran Adams (Adapted from his Single Frame Exhibit)

The Combatants The Colombian attacked Tarapacá (the town across the Peruvian Air Force river from Leticia). Leticia was Waterlow & Sons, Ltd. well defended and Tarapacá had Specimen overprint

no Peruvian troops. The Peru- (bottom center

vian Air Force attacked the Co- lombian navy but all the bombs missed their targets.

After a speech to his troops on 30 April 1933, a dissenting member of Congress from the opposition party shot President Luís Cerro and he died. With the assassination of President Congress Building, Lima Cerro, the political impetus for Airmail value the war disappeared quickly. Luís Cerro Overprint ‘U.P.U. 1874-1949’ Peruvian President 1934 Vermilion re-issue

Candido Mariano de Silva Rondon

Combat continued into May of 1933, when a cease-fire was negotiated by the Brazilian diplomat Candido Mariano de Silva Rondon and both Disarmament sides disarmed. League overprint on Swiss value

A delayed agreement between politicians was struck two weeks later with the leader of the Colombian Liberal Party, Alfonso López Pumarejo, to request that the League of Nations mediate the conflict.

Alfonso López Pumarejo Colombian Liberal Party Numbered souvenir sheet, Air express value

14 THE JOURNAL OF PHILATELISTS Vol. 41 #3 JUNE 2017 The Peacemakers

Ministry of Foreign Relations, Lima, Peru to Brooklyn, New York, 17 May 1932 20¢ foreign surface letter rate plus 20¢ certificate fee

Both Peru and , as members of the League of Nations, agreed to allow the League of Nations to act as the intermediary in mediating the dis- pute to find an answer to the ongoing dispute and develop a treaty both could sign.

League of Nations, Geneva to the Colombian Legation in Bern, Switzerland, 2 August 1929 5¢ domestic printed matter rate (newspaper sleeve)

THE JOURNAL OF UNITED NATIONS PHILATELISTS Vol. 41 #3 JUNE 2017 15 The Peacemakers Eamon De Valera, the League of Nations’ Council President, appointed three nation mem- bers, Guatemala, Ireland and , to an international com- mission under the League’s authority to address the dis- agreement and to find both a peaceful and long term solu- League of Nations in Geneva Overprinted (black) Swiss issue tion to the conflict. for official use by the League Specimen (red) overprint Eamon De Valera Commission Member States

Spain Coat of Arms Guatemala Ireland Official issue for Coat of Arms Coat of Arms Judicial Branch

The international commission included representatives from League of Nations member countries Brazil and Cuba in diplomatic and administrative support roles. The was invited to participate with a military advisor.

Commission Support States

Brazil Coat of Arms United States Revalue overprint Cuba Gutter snipe missing ‘9’ and ‘S’ Coat of Arms

A provisional peace agreement in 1933 allowed Leticia Commission represen- tatives to work out details of a treaty in the Colombian capitol city of Bogotá. A force of Colombian soldiers, under the command of the League’s ‘Leticia Commission’, policed the area. They were the first international peacekeep- ers. Colombian soldiers serve the U.N. Capital Building, Bogotá in other areas to this day. Colombian peacekeepers

16 THE JOURNAL OF UNITED NATIONS PHILATELISTS Vol. 41 #3 JUNE 2017 The Peacekeepers

The Leticia Commission’s members and support representatives arrived in Colombia via the main coastal city of Barranquilla to continue to Bogotá or further still, to Leticia on the Amazon River in the south.

Barranquilla Bogotá

LEAGUE’S LETICIA COMMISSION ARRIVES IN COLOMBIA

“Barranquilla, Colombia ... The three members of the League of Nations Commission, pictured just before they left here on the last lap, by air, of their trip to Leticia, Colombia, where they settled the dispute between Colombia and Peru over the territory. Left to right an center are, Captain Francisco Iglesias representing Spain; Colonel Arthur Brown of the United States, and Doctor Armando Mencia of Cuba, Secretary of the Commission.” (International News Photo - 22-6-33)

THE JOURNAL OF UNITED NATIONS PHILATELISTS Vol. 41 #3 JUNE 2017 17