817.00/5475: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Nicaragua (Eberhardt)
76. For General McCoy. With reference to article 8 of the decree transmitted in Legation’s telegram No. 133, March 18, 11 a.m.,38 it is our understanding that the purpose and effect of this provision is a delegation by President Diaz to you as a Nicaraguan official, of authority over the Guardia Nacional to the extent that may be necessary for carrying out the election. We understand, however, that the Navy Department in Washington is somewhat apprehensive lest the provision be construed by the Guardia Nacional and the marines as an attempt to establish a separate and distinct command for the Guardia Nacional, thereby upsetting the practical arrangement now in force. Under the present arrangement the Navy Department understands that in all matters where combined operations may be involved, the Guardia Nacional is under the control and command of the proper officers of the 2nd Brigade, U. S. Marines. Attention is invited in this connection to the instructions issued to the Commander of the Special Service Squadron of December 9, 1927,39 particularly to paragraph (h) thereof. The Navy Department points out that it would be extremely unfortunate for us to encourage in any quarter the idea that so far as the restoration and maintenance of peace and order are concerned there is any divided responsibility or invasion of the principle of a unified command. It seems to us that this objection, while perhaps theoretically tenable, need not be regarded as at all serious as a matter of practical operation. We assume that you do not intend to take charge of the Guardia Nacional and operate it as a separate military unit, and that in actual practice [Page 482] you would deal with and through the appropriate officers of the Marine Brigade, and make your desires and needs known to them as occasion requires, thus thereby leaving undisturbed the present system of a single control and operation of the two forces where combined operations become necessary. We should be pleased to have your views and suggestions by telegraph before communicating further with the Navy Department on this subject. In the meantime, this complication, which we feel is quite susceptible of practical adjustment, should not, in our judgment, be allowed to hold up the issuance of the decree as now formulated.