717.2114/37

The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Nicaragua (Thurston)

No. 212

Sir: With reference to the Legation’s despatch No. 3 of January 6, 1925,87 transmitting a note from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua88 to the Secretary of State, in which the Minister of Foreign Affairs requested the good offices of the Secretary of State to persuade Colombia to submit to arbitration the question of the ownership of the San Andrés Archipelago, there is transmitted herewith a reply from the Secretary of State to be delivered by you to [Page 432] the Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs.89 An extra copy of the reply is transmitted for the files of the Legation. A translation of the note from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua to the Secretary of State is also transmitted for the files of the Legation.

You will observe that the Department has not considered it advisable to accede to Nicaragua’s request to recommend to Colombia an arbitration dealing solely with the ownership of the San Andrés Archipelago. The Department considers that the proposal already made by Colombia in accordance with which Nicaragua would keep the Mosquito coast and the Corn Islands, and Colombia would keep the San Andrés Archipelago, would offer an equitable solution of the controversy. The Department will, therefore, be glad to have you discuss informally with the Nicaraguan Government the desirability of terminating this long-standing diplomatic controversy in this manner. Please report the outcome of this discussion to the Department.

I am [etc.]

Frank B. Kellogg
[Enclosure]

The Secretary of State to the Nicaraguan Minister for Foreign Affairs (Castrillo)

Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your predecessor’s note of December 29, 1924,90 in which he informed me of the present situation of the controversy between the Governments of Nicaragua and Colombia relating to the ownership of the Mosquito coast and the adjacent islands, including especially the Corn Islands and the San Andrés Archipelago. I note that after failing to settle the controversy by diplomatic negotiations your Government accredited a legation to the Government of Colombia with instructions to lay before the Colombian Government the draft of a convention, a copy of which accompanies your predecessor’s note;91 that this draft was not accepted by Colombia; that Colombia has now proposed a settlement, leaving to Colombia the San Andrés Archipelago and to Nicaragua the Mosquito coast and the Corn Islands;92 that the Nicaraguan Government has rejected this latter proposal; and that the Nicaraguan Government now finds itself constrained to request the good offices of the United States Government in order that the Government [Page 433] of Colombia may consent to refer to arbitration the question of the ownership of the San Andrés Archipelago.93

In reply I have the honor to inform you that the request of the Government of Nicaragua has received the most careful and friendly consideration. It would of course be inappropriate for this Government to express an opinion as to the force and validity of the arguments advanced by the Governments of Nicaragua and Colombia in the course of the diplomatic negotiations between them, especially as it does not have at hand all of the information necessary for a full consideration of the question. From such information as is now in the possession of this Government, however, it would appear that the Spanish colonial legislative and administrative dispositions, the interpretation and validity of which are in question, referred equally to the San Andrés Archipelago and to the Mosquito coast and the Corn Islands. It would thus appear that a decision in favor of either party based solely upon the uti possidetis juris of 1810 might be expected to apply with equal force to all of the territory in dispute. Under these conditions this Government does not feel that it could consistently urge upon the Government of Colombia the submission to arbitration of the question of the ownership of a portion only of this territory with the consequent relinquishment of whatever claim Colombia may have to the remainder.

This Government understands that the Archipelago of San Andrés has been occupied by Colombia since 1822, whereas Nicaragua has exercised jurisdiction on the Mosquito coast since the declaration of independence from Spain and has occupied the Corn Islands since about 1890. The proposal of the Colombian Government, which would recognize the sovereignty of Nicaragua over the Mosquito coast and the Corn Islands and the sovereignty of Colombia over the San Andrés Archipelago, would therefore make permanent a situation which has existed in fact, so far as the more important portions of the territory in dispute are concerned, practically since the achievement of the independence of the two Republics. Such an arrangement, furthermore, would set at rest any question as to the sovereignty of Nicaragua over the east coast of that Republic and the Corn Islands, territory which is obviously infinitely more valuable to Nicaragua than the San Andrés Archipelago. Without committing itself at this time to the expression of any opinion as to the intrinsic merits of the controversy, the Government of the United States is inclined to feel that a settlement on the basis indicated would afford an equitable [Page 434] solution of the matter. I need not say that this observation is made in the most friendly spirit and solely in the hope of promoting an amicable settlement on terms advantageous to both parties.

Accept [etc.]

Frank B. Kellogg
  1. Not printed.
  2. José Andrés Urtecho.
  3. Salvador Castrillo. His occupancy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was brief, Dr. Urtecho resuming charge of the Ministry upon his removal.
  4. Not printed.
  5. Printed in Nicaragua y Colombia: Ultimas comunicaciones sobre la cuestion Mosquita entre el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y la Legacion de Colombia ([Managua?], Tipografia Progreso, 1925), p. 115.
  6. See ibid., pp. 121–122.
  7. For a statement of Nicaragua’s case, see Memorandum Explicativo de la Controversia entre Nicaragua y Colombia sobre el Dominio de las Islas de San Andrés (Managua, 1924); also Alcance al Memorandum Explicativo, etc. (Managua, 1924).