Canada: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS: Goodbye, Now

Peruvian Ambassador Alfredo Benavides had an idea, and to sell it he invited the heads of the diplomatic missions in Ottawa to come around for a drink. The idea: a gift to mark the retirement of U.S. Ambassador Ray Atherton (TIME, Aug. 23), dean of Ottawa’s diplomatic corps. Ambassador Benavides had no trouble persuading 32 of his colleagues. A silver cigar box, they decided, would be just the thing, and it should be engraved with the signatures of the mission heads.

Because no Russian had showed up at the get-together, the Peruvian Ambassador wrote the Soviets’ charge d’affaires, Nikolai Belokhvostikov, inviting him to join in. A week passed without an answer. Then Benavides’ secretary phoned the Soviet embassy; he explained what was planned, suggested that the letter must have gone astray, and added that he was sure that Belokhvostikov would want his name on the box. “It is not customary,” snapped the Russian as he hung up.