File No. 817.00/2168.
The American Minister to the Secretary of State.
Managua, August 9, 1912.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith copies of correspondence1 in regard to the political disturbances in Nicaragua, and the measures taken by the Legation for the protection of life and property.
Within half an hour of the outbreak and while Mena was still cornered in the barracks of the Campo de Marte, the police commanded by his brother, Noguera, arrested the director of telegraphs, seized all messages, including my telegram of July 29, 1 p.m., and took control of the wires in and out of the city. They telephoned to the railroad offices giving out false reports that the Liberals had [Page 1035] captured the Campo de Marte, and urging that all the rolling-stock be rushed to Granada to bring in friends of the Government to clef end the capital. The obvious purpose, of course, was to turn over the engines and trains to the Menistas, and one of the conspirators, Salvador Buitrago Días, a judge of the Supreme Court, did succeed in getting away with freight and passenger coaches; another, Dr. Sebastián Salinas, escaped with two locomotives but fortunately was captured and brought back, otherwise the railroad company would have been even more seriously crippled in the management of the line.
Two days later the Government outposts intercepted despatches which showed conclusively that Mena had agreed with Arturo Ortega and L. Ramírez to supply rifles and ammunition to the Zelayistas, and that Benjamín Zeledón and J. M. Zelaya were already on their way to Masaya with men to be armed. Zeledón is a Liberal, formerly connected with the Zelaya administration, and was recently permitted to return to Nicaragua on his promise not to take part in political agitations or engage in any subversive movement against the Government. The Menistas tried to surprise Tipitapa so as to send arms by that road to León, and about the same time, according to information received by the Government from its Chargé d’Affaires in San José, the Zelayistas in Costa Rica under Julian Irias and Rodolfo Espinosa were preparing a filibuster expedition from Puntarenas to a near by port in Nicaragua.
These rapid preparations for hostilities, and the knowledge that Mena as Minister of War had been able to get control of the larger part of the Government’s military supplies, caused great alarm in the capital, especially among those who have had some experience with the sort of warfare that is conducted in Nicaragua.
The British Consul General, Mr. H. C. Venables, called at the Legation on July 31 to request my good offices in arranging for the safety of his wife and infant child who were at Jinotepe. He said that while returning from there to Managua he was halted and questioned by Zeledón, who had already established a camp at Casa Colorada, near Masaya, and the impression made on him was such that he felt considerable anxiety for his family. I was very glad to be able to arrange to have them conducted to a place of safety at the Vaughan hacienda, near San Marcos, owned by an Englishman. The Consul General on August 3 again asked my assistance in behalf of two of his nationals, Mrs. Brown Webber and daughter, who were in Masaya.
The National Bank of Nicaragua, an American corporation, informally by its manager requested the Legation to mention confidentially to the Government that there were considerable sums of money in the vaults for which protection was sought against plain robbers as well as armed enemies. I had already arranged the night before with Señor Pallais for the organization of a provisional police force, but I nevertheless wrote to President Díaz in regard to the desirability of having an adequate guard at the bank, and received ample affirmative assurances in the matter.
Two days later the manager of the railroad, which is owned and operated by a company organized under the laws of the State of Maine, filed a protest with the Legation complaining that its locomotives and cars had been unlawfully taken by forces acting under Mena’s orders; that a passenger train was obstructed at Masaya [Page 1036] causing great distress to the passengers among whom were foreigners; and that the company’s steamers on Lake Nicaragua had been seized and occupied by armed forces. These steamers were used for bombarding San Jorge and other unfortified towns along the lake.
The Legation promptly brought the protest to the attention of the Nicaraguan Government on August 3, and requested that steps be taken to afford adequate protection to the property of Americans. The Minister for Foreign Affairs replied that his Government is making every effort to extend such protection but regrets its inability to do so because of the necessity of using its forces to put clown armed disorders, and he concluded by requesting that the Government of the United States land forces to guarantee the property and life of its own citizens as well as to extend its protection to all the inhabitants of the Republic.
The Mixed Claims Commission addressed to the Legation a communication reciting that whereas the Nicaraguan Government had replied to a request for protection that it was unable to afford adequate security for the commission records; and whereas there were on file more than five thousand cases involving claims of hundreds of thousands of dollars, many of the claimants being citizens of the United States and other foreign countries; and whereas the loss of these records would work irreparable injury to the innocent litigants, it was resolved by the commission to solicit the protection of the United States Government for its premises, its records and the persons of its American members.
The Legation received a similar request for protection of the customs houses, which are under the control of an American collector general.
The members of the American colony resident in Managua informally met and resolved to urge the necessity of taking prompt measures for the security of their lives and property.
That same morning information reached me of uprisings in Chinandega and León, and of further interruptions of the wire and rail service between the capital and the port. It then became necessary for me to decide without delay what practical measures to take for the safeguarding of the persons and interests committed to the care of the Legation, for if the railroad and telegraph communication from Corinto to Managua were destroyed ne effective precautions would be any longer available.
The Department will observe from the enclosed letter and itinerary1 of the U. S. S. Annapolis that it left Amapala on July 7 bound for the Canal Zone, and having put in at San Juan del Sur to meet the mail steamer, was intercepted by my telegram and that of the Consul at Corinto.
On August 3 I sent a telegram to the commanding officer, Captain W. J. Terhune, U. S. N., inquiring how many men he had available for a landing force, and a few hours later I sent another requesting that he disembark a guard and order it to the Legation in Managua Captain Terhune responded very promptly and landed a detachment of ninety bluejackets and five officers, Lieutenant James A. Campbell, Jr., commanding. This force arrived at the capital at 3.30 a.m. of [Page 1037] August 4 and took up quarters in the Legation, which has been temporarily enlarged by the addition of a small house adjoining on the left.
I have [etc.]