File No. 815.00/1736
Minister Leavell to the Secretary of State
Guatemala, November 6, 1917, 5 p.m.
Your November 3, 6 p.m. President Cabrera told me this afternoon that on the contrary his laborers guarded by Guatemalan soldiers were engaged in repairing bridges and roads in the territory of Guatemala in the expectation of an invasion by Honduras. While [Page 780] the commissions of both countries are in Washington about this disputed territory matter, his desire was that the question should be left in statu quo, but instead Honduras has now a thousand soldiers in the territory of Guatemala and that he has for the time being withdrawn both laborers and soldiers from certain contact with the Hondurans. I am sending Thurston to locality to-morrow morning to investigate and will report the result on his return.