817.00/5824: Telegram
The Minister in Nicaragua (Eberhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:15 p.m.]
281. After several conferences among the Conservative leaders Cuadra Pasos proposed to Chamorro that the Conservative candidate be selected by majority vote at a joint meeting of the directorates of the two factions, each of which has 20 members. Chamorro refused on the ground that the Cuadra Pasos directorate was united behind the official candidate, while his own was less reliable. Cuadra Pasos states that Chamorro then formally proposed that the two of them join in a manifesto recommending that the party should not participate in the election. When this proposal was declined it was agreed that three delegates of each faction be appointed to carry on further discussions.
The delegates met yesterday afternoon and proposed to their directorates that they be given full powers to decide the dispute either by majority vote or by unanimity. Chamorro has apparently agreed to [Page 502] this with the qualification that the decision be between the two candidates already nominated by Cuadra Pasos …
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