817.00/5590

The Secretary of the Navy ( Wilbur ) to the Secretary of State

P9–2/EF49 (280227)

Sir: I have the honor to forward herewith copy of a letter from Commander Special Service Squadron of February 27, 1928, on affairs in Nicaragua.96 Your attention is particularly invited to the enclosure with this letter which purports to be a reply written by Sandino to the letter of the Squadron Commander mentioned in previous correspondence.97

Respectfully,

Curtis D. Wilbur
[Enclosure—Translation]

General Sandino to the Commander of the U. S. Special Service Squadron ( Sellers )

Mr. D. F. Sellers,
Representative of Imperialism in Nicaragua, Managua:

I had formulated a reply, in which I answered concretely, point for point, your letter of January 20th, but special circumstances prevent me from delivering it directly.

I refer to the final point of your letter. Don’t believe that the present struggle has for an origin or base, the revolution just passed. Today this is a struggle of the Nicaraguan people in general, to expel the foreign invasion of my country. Regarding the Stimson-Moncada treaties, we have reiterated a thousand times our ignorance of them.

The only way to put an end to this struggle is the immediate withdrawal of the invading forces from our territory, at the same time replacing the present President by one who is a Nicaraguan citizen and who is not running as a candidate for the Presidency, and supervising the coming elections by representatives of Latin America instead of by American Marines.

Country and Liberty,
A. C. Sandino
  1. Not printed; its enclosure is printed infra.
  2. See undated letter from the Commander of the U. S. Special Service Squadron to General Sandino, p. 562.