818.6363 Am 6/90: Telegram
The Chargé in Costa Rica (Thurston) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 16—9:45 a.m.]
108. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has just called to show me a note, dated July 13th, which he has received from the British Minister on the subject of the Amory petroleum concession and the Royal Bank of Canada bills. The note submits to the most serious consideration of the Government of Costa Rica a review of the negotiations which terminated last March and states, “that in the [Page 664] circumstances His Majesty’s Government have no alternative but to present a demand to the Costa Rican Government to the effect that British rights in Costa Rica should be exempted from the operation of law 41.”
The note then states, “that His Majesty’s Government are prepared to accept a settlement of pending claims in one of two ways, either by direct Executive and congressional action or by means of an agreed arbitration between His Majesty’s Government and the Government of Costa Rica”, and concludes with the hope that Costa Rica will accept this final opportunity for an amicable settlement. When delivering this note the British Minister stated that as a result of an understanding with Washington the British Foreign Office has carte blanche with respect to the Amory Concession negotiations it now resumes.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs apparently is alarmed by the tone of the British note and feels that satisfactory negotiations are impossible. Despatch follows.20
- Not printed.↩