717.2114/54: Telegram

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

[270.]66 Department’s telegram October 6, 6 p.m. The Colombian Minister has proposed a settlement leaving the San Andrés Archipelago to Colombia and the Corn Islands and the Mosquito Coast to Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan Government apparently regards this proposal with some favor but wishes to do nothing until it hears from the Department. The delay is prejudicial to the chances of a settlement because the prolonged discussion of the matter by the newspapers and by the bipartisan advisory commission, which the Government has appointed, can only do harm.

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The Minister for Foreign Affairs told me today that he had been privately informed by a Nicaraguan in Bogotá that the Colombian Government might be persuaded to pay an indemnity of $500,000 for the relinquishment of Nicaragua’s claim to the San Andrés Archipelago if a Nicaraguan Minister were sent to Bogota to discuss the matter. I endeavored to discourage this idea.

Munro
  1. Number supplied from the Chargé’s despatch No. 515, Oct. 25, 1927 (not printed).