File No. 6663–1.
The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Russell.
Washington, June 28, 1907.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 191 of the 6th ultimo, giving an account of the reception of a native Venezuelan as minister of Nicaragua to Venezuela and requesting an expression of the department’s opinion concerning the status of Mr. Planas Suarez, whom the Venezuelan Government considers to be a Venezuelan citizen.
[Page 1093]In reply, I have to say that the right of any government to decline to receive one of its own citizens as the representative of another government is generally recognized and has been asserted on several occasions by the Government of the United States. (See Moore’s Digest, vol. 4, pp. 549–553.) While insisting upon the right in some instances, it has been waived without prejudice in others.
In the case of Señor Camacho the question of his citizenship was revived later, when he was promoted from the office of chargé d’affaires of Venezuela to be minister. It was contemplated to require Señor Camacho to waive his diplomatic privileges, on account of his being an American citizen, but it appears that under the laws of Venezuela he still retained Venezuelan citizenship, notwithstanding naturalization as an American. He was, therefore, received as a Venezuelan, and so regarded during his continuance in office.
These remarks are offered merely as of historic and academic interest.
The subject of the status of Señor Planas Suarez does not appear to call for any formal expression of opinion in the absence of any case arising affecting his relations to the other members of the diplomatic corps in any matter affecting diplomatic privileges.
I am, etc.,