715.1715/86: Telegram
The Minister in Honduras (Jones) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received January 4, 4 p.m.]
Department’s December 23, 3 p.m.25 On the 19th instant [ultimo?] I conveyed to Under Secretary of State the charge that Honduras was violating status quo with Nicaragua and gave specific facts. He promised to take the matter up with Bertrand26 immediately and report. [Following your] December 20, 6 p.m. [December 21, 4 p.m.?], I immediately laid the matter before the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs at length. He declared that he had no advice concerning my first complaint, that he was not advised as to Bertrand’s action or result of inquiry, that he had already received from Nicaraguan Minister for Foreign Affairs substance of this last communication and had forwarded it to Bertrand who was in remote section and difficult to reach. He seemed to make a distinction between “disputed territory “and the line of demarcation fixed originally by the King of Spain. Replying to categorical inquiry he was unable to affirm or deny the charge of armed Honduraneans crossing into Nicaraguan territory but confessed that the Honduranean Government was opening telegraph lines to Las Trojas. He made a counter charge against Nicaragua stating that it continued to violate status quo by timber cutting in disputed territory and that he was prepared to establish same with conclusive evidence. He protested full determination of Honduraneans to follow wishes of the Government of the United States and strictly maintain status quo. I fully impressed gravity of the situation and he promises to emphasize situation to Bertrand and report as soon as possible.