File No. 817.812/80.
The Chargé d’Affaires of Salvador to the Secretary of State.
Washington , July 8, 1914 .
Excellency: I have the honor to bring to your excellency’s knowledge that, having heard that the draft treaty with Nicaragua now pending in the Senate for ratification contains a clause like the so-called “Platt Amendment,” which would establish the protectorate of the United States of America over that Central American Republic, my Government has instructed me to lay before your excellency, with the greatest respect, a formal protest against that clause.
My Government holds that the loss or partial destruction of Nicaragua’s autonomy seriously affects the autonomy of Salvador, considering the peculiar ties that have always bound the Central American States.
The contemplated protectorate would nullify the Conventions of the Washington Conference (Central American Conference of Washington, 1907), since those treaties were concluded for the purpose of making stronger and closer the special relations of the Central | American States, maintaining peace and promoting their common I interests; for it is an indestructible fact that the interests and progress of all and every one of the States are one and the same.
My Government believes that, conformably to the treaties between Salvador and the United States, the Nicaraguan treaty under consideration can not be submitted to the Senate for ratification while there is pending the discussion raised by the protest laid by it before your excellency on October 21, 1913, for the protection of the rights and interests of Salvador that would be affected by the concession granted to your excellency’s Government for the establishment of a naval station in the Gulf of Fonseca.
In respectfully filing this protest, my Government not only performs a duty placed upon it by the Fundamental Charter of the country, but also, faithfully voices the sentiment of the nation.
I have great pleasure in renewing [etc.]