817.00/4259
Press Release Issued by the Department of State, November 17, 1926
In announcing that formal recognition had been accorded the Diaz regime in Nicaragua by the American Chargé d’Affaires, Lawrence Dennis, acting under instructions from the Department,35 the Secretary of State added:
“I am much gratified that a solution has been found for the Nicaraguan political problems which is in accordance with the constitution of that country and in harmony with the Central American Treaty of 1923. When General Chamorro seized the power a year ago it was of course impossible to accord recognition to his Government, since it originated in a coup d’état. When General Chamorro withdrew from power this left the way open for the election by Congress of one of its own members to assume the executive power as provided for by the Nicaraguan constitution under certain circumstances. The members of the Congress which was chosen at a popular election in 1924 were called to meet in an extraordinary session for this purpose and elected Señor Adolfo Diaz. Changes which had been made in the membership of this Congress during the régime of General Chamorro were nullified and members who had been expelled were invited to resume their seats, thus restoring the Congress to its original complexion. The entire Congress in joint session has a membership of sixty-four. Fifty-three members voted in the election of Diaz, and he received forty-five votes or an absolute majority of the total membership of Congress. The last constitutional President of Nicaragua, Carlos Solorzano, resigned in January 1926 and the Vice President elected with him has been out of the country since November, 1925. In the absence of these two the duty devolved upon Congress of naming a designate from one of its own members to fill out the unexpired term of President Solorzano.
“The Department has been informed that President Diaz intends to make overtures of peace and general amnesty to his political opponents, and that he will offer the Liberal Party participation in the new Government, including certain cabinet posts. I sincerely hope that this offer if made will be accepted by the Liberals, since only by cooperation between all factions can peace and tranquility be restored to that country now so unhappily torn by revolution, a condition which has invited interference from outside sources; a state of affairs which must cause concern to every friend of stability in Central America. It must be in the best interests, not only of Nicaragua but of Central America as a whole and all countries interested in its welfare, that normal conditions should soon be restored permitting a return to that prosperity and economic development which have been so marked in Nicaragua during the last decade and a half.”
- Recognition was extended by note delivered by the American Chargé to the Nicaraguan Minister for Foreign Affairs on Nov. 17 at 11 a.m.↩