Mr. Hay to Mr. Combs.
Washington , April 18, 1903 .
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 40, of the 25th ultimo, concerning the refusal of Guatemala to recognize the United States passport of Alberto Posadas, a native Guatemalan naturalized in this country.
You report an interview on the subject which you had with the minister of foreign affairs on March 21, when “he took the ground that many Guatemalans went to the United States for a few years to obtain naturalization papers to avoid the duties and obligations of citizens, and then returned to Guatemala, where all their propertyinterests lie,” and “that the constitution of the country declared all persons born in Guatemala subjects and citizens of Guatemala whenever they were in the country, no difference in what or how many other countries they had obtained citizenship.”
From an examination of the copy of the Guatemalan constitution which we have here it would appear that it contains nothing more than a provision similar to that in our own Constitution that all persons born in the country are citizens thereof. Your dispatch would seem to indicate that the Guatemalan constitution contains a provision denying the right of expatriation. If such be the case, then the same question of dual allegiance which we have with Russia and Turkey would arise, and a satisfactory solution of the question could be afforded by the conclusion of a treaty of naturalization with Guatemala, if that Government will agree to it. The Department will be pleased to have you send to it a copy of the present constitution of Guatemala for its use in considering the matter.
Meanwhile you are to be governed by the Department’s instruction by telegram of March 24, 1903.
I am, etc.,