817.00/3943: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Guatemala (Ellis)
50. Under date of October 19, Chargé d’Affaires Dennis advised the Department from Corinto that the Liberals went on record in meeting of conference stating that they had received aid from the Mexican Government and that if they did not secure the acceptance of Sacasa in the conference they were prepared to go on with the revolution, counting on further aid from Mexico and certain other governments. They admitted that they could not hope for success without such aid. They further declared that they were under no obligations to Mexico. The Chargé d’Affaires states that he feels that the Liberals [Page 800] are divided, one group in favor of continuing the revolution with the aid of Mexico and the other desiring to compromise on the basis of more favorable concessions from the Conservatives. …
[Paraphrase.] In view of the foregoing and the fact that Mr. Dennis on October 21, stated that the conference is now engaged in discussing a practical solution, and that the spirit of both parties is more conciliatory and that he is hopeful of a satisfactory settlement, the Department feels that it is most necessary to inform Sacasa regarding the Department’s position, in order that he may be held responsible should the conference fail because of any act on his part. [End paraphrase.]
You are therefore instructed to seek immediately a personal and private interview with Doctor Sacasa and say to him that the Department has learned that many Liberals have admitted receiving from Mexico arms and assistance in their efforts to overthrow the régime now functioning in Nicaragua and there is good reason to believe that rather than come to any agreement at the conference now being held at Corinto some of the Liberals would prefer to renew hostilities and continue their efforts to overthrow the Chamorro régime by force, counting upon further aid from Mexico and certain other governments. That the Department is sure Doctor Sacasa does not approve of this course and really desires to see peace restored in Nicaragua without compelling that country to suffer first the unimaginable horror and disaster of a civil war, which, if one party accepts aid and material assistance from abroad, may be of long duration and frightful intensity. That the Department considers the Central American countries obligated by Article 14 of the General Treaty of Peace and Amity of 1923 not to intervene under any circumstances, directly or indirectly, in the internal political affairs of any other Central American country, and that other countries not signatories of this Treaty and having no plausible ground or valid reason for interfering in the domestic affairs of Nicaragua are equally obligated to maintain a strict neutrality in the event of civil war in that country. The United States Government therefore, anxious as it is to avoid any interference in the internal affairs of Nicaragua, itself, would view with grave disfavor any such interference on the part of any other nation; and any faction or party which solicited or accepted such aid or assistance could count upon the firm opposition of the United States Government.
Investigate and report to the Department as soon as possible as to the departure of The Star with ammunition and Mexicans from Guatemala.
The penultimate paragraph has been cabled to Dennis for his information.