File No. 818.00/357
The Chargé in Costa Rica ( Johnson ) to the Secretary of State
Sir: I have the honor to confirm briefly my cables in regard to the revolutionary movement that broke out on Friday, February 22, on the Pacific side and on Saturday, the 23d day or February, on the Atlantic side, and which has been up to now a complete failure from a military point of view. Juan Gomez and Mariano Guardia, the able ex-Minister of Finance under the Gonzalez Government, and the two most respectable active participants, were captured on the 6th at the estate of the first named, near Turrialba, after their failure to advance upon Cartago, and have been brought as prisoners, with their sixty odd followers to San José and confined in the penitentiary. The feeling of the American colony for Mariano Guardia is so high that if he is badly treated they will protest to a man. There is no announcement as yet of a general amnesty and release of the hundreds of political prisoners—on the contrary, the machinery of military law under which they were taken before and during the trouble seems to be continuing to operate and no leniency is yet indicated in the treatment of prisoners.
Rogelio Fernandez Guell on the Pacific and Manuel Chao on the Atlantic are still uncaught, and hope is still expressed that something may be expected from these two men. The latter is an experienced Mexican guerilla fighter, as he is the ex-Villista general, for some time military governor of the State of Chihuahua. It is rather significant that the expression on the faces of thousands of people of [Page 244] all classes in San José denoted disappointment felt at the failure of the revolution. There can be nothing further from the truth or more dastardly than the attempt made to give the impression abroad and to the American Government that this movement was “pro-German”. Besides the Tinocos, all their friends … have carried on that propaganda. Unfortunately it had one very serious result in being the probable cause for the detention and surveillance of the Volios in Panama. If I had but realized the influence of the interested reports that would go to Washington from Panama upon the arrival of the Volios there, I could perhaps have counteracted their effect in time. …
If one could but appreciate the unanimity of public sentiment against the Tinocos, the odium in which they are held, the blackness of their character and the prayers of the population for the success of the feeble attempt to oust them, it would be easy to appreciate that there was nothing pro-German about it. Even if Fernandez Guell is pro-German, as seems evident, I can not too often repeat that the Germans can not gain, but only lose from the ousting of Tinoco. When there is a recognized government here we can do something about interning or sending to Panama objectionable Germans, but this element is safe and secure under the present circumstances. It the Germans are stupid enough to support a movement to put out Tinoco, let us entice them into playing into our hands. But the mere statement of the proposition shows the utter folly of considering the Germans capable of opposing Tinoco for strictly German purposes having any connection with the World War or its consequences. …
In regard to the torturing of political prisoners in the jails and penitentiary, the stories have at last come back to Joaquin Tinoco and he gave out an interview in the Información of the 27th of February which is virtually a damning admission that tortures are perpetrated. He, of course, vehemently denies the truth of the stories, and then in his careless disregard of all lawful restraint goes on to say in effect:
I give warning to the public, however, that those who circulate such stories and calumnies I will persecute and punish with all necessary rigor, for the purpose of putting an end to this evil at the root.
The portion above is a close literal translation of his quoted interview.
I have been in daily communication by long distance telephone with Mr. McMillin, our consul in Limon, to whom I repeated the first two cables I attempted to send, and which he transmitted by wireless from Limon. Mr. Ryan, the American wounded in the Pascua incident, is progressing as well as can be expected. He came here on some errand of business that brought him in contact with Federico Tinoco, and the latter, presuming on this acquaintance, has sought by every means in his power to buy off any claim that Ryan may wish to file for the injury received. …
I have not, pending receipt of instructions from the Department, had any communication whatever with the authorities in regard to the incident. … The Tinocos are resorting and will continue to resort to every device of trickery, treachery, and deceit in order to place a different aspect from the true one, upon the incident; for [Page 245] example, so far, public explanations have been given ranging from the ridiculous one that a band of rebels got the Government troops drunk, and that a rebel handed the commanding general a telegram saying that the train before their eyes was a rebel train filled with armed enemies, to the latest and more insidious excuse, that the noise of the release of an air-brake caused the troops to fire.
The testimony, however, is very clear, as will be seen from the reports of witnesses being prepared and sent by Consul McMillin, and there is no possible escape from the conclusion that the act was one of pure wantonness and murder, requiring at the least, in addition to compensation, the punishment of the commanding general. The crime of murder can of course only be urged by or through the British Government.
As the affidavits of the witnesses are being sent by the Consul at Limon, I shall not attempt to repeat the testimony. However, I enclose the statement of an Englishman1 which brings out very well the atrociousness of the action of the Tinoco regular troops in the Pascua incident. An American, who subscribes to his statement, I met, personally, while in San José. He had an experience with the rebels on both the Pacific and Atlantic side and experienced as well the Pascua incident, receiving a bullet through his hat, so that a report from him upon his arrival in the United States should prove of value.
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩