File No. 816.00/158.

The American Minister to Honduras to the Secretary of State .

[Extract.]
No. 75.]

Sir: I have the honor herewith to report that upon receipt on the afternoon of the 13th instant of your telegram of the 12th instant, 4 p.m., in regard to the revolutionary activities of Dr. Prudencio Alfaro and Gen. Luis Alonzo Barahona against the neighboring Republic of El Salvador and the cooperation of the President of Guatemala and of Gen. Manuel Bonilla with them, the contents thereof were at once embodied in a note to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of this Government, of which I inclose a copy. This note was delivered the next morning to the Minister at his house. On the following morning, that of the 15th instant, I received a reply from the Minister for Foreign Affairs to my note, of which I inclose a copy and translation. * * *

I have [etc.]

Charles D. White.
[Page 1325]
[Inclosure 1.]

The American Minister to the Honduran Minister for Foreign Affairs .

Mr. Minister: The Minister of Salvador in Washington has informed the Department of State of the Government of the United States that Gen. Prudencio Alfaro and Gen. L. A. Barahona have begun revolutionary operations in Guatemala and that they are receiving the cooperation of Gen. Manuel Bonilla, President-elect of Honduras, and of the President of Guatemala. Under instructions I have the honor to bring this matter to the attention of your excellency’s Government, and, in so doing, to urge upon it strict observance of the conventions signed at Washington in 1907, to which Honduras is a party.

I avail [etc.]

Charles D. White,
[Inclosure 2.—Translation.]

The Honduran Minister for Foreign Affairs to the American Minister .

Mr. Minister: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your courteous note, dated the 13th instant, in which you advise this Department [etc.]

In reply I have the honor to inform your excellency that the statement made by the Minister of El Salvador in Washington to the Department of State of the United States is not true, because President Bertrand, as well as the President-elect, General Bonilla, have fulfilled and continue to fulfill faithfully the obligations established for Honduras in the conventions mentioned; so much so that in respect of the concrete case with which we are occupied there is no one who, even by facts that constitute presumption, can make my Government responsible, I do not say by omission, even by negligence in the fulfillment of its obligations.

My Government is completely ignorant of what is the present residence of Dr. Alfaro, or what are his activities or intentions for revolution in the sister Republic of El Salvador; but, on the other hand, it can give assurance that General Barahona has for several months been, and is, living with his family quietly in the city of San Pedro Sula, capital of the Department of Cortes, a section which is very distant from the Salvadoran frontier, which he will not cross in the quality of a revolutionist, because if any machinations should be plotted in the sense indicated it would not pass unnoticed by my Government, and my Government would not permit it.

I assure [etc.]

Raf’l Alvarado M.