817.00/5568
The Ambassador in Mexico (Morrow) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 17.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of the Department’s strictly confidential instruction No. 232 of April 3, 1928,98 transmitting for my information copy of a report to the War Department with regard to the alleged forwarding of officers and men from Mexico to assist Sandino in Nicaragua.
[Page 571]As indicated in the Department’s instruction under reference, a copy of the report received by the War Department had already reached the Military Attaché of this Embassy. Colonel MacNab informs me that he places no reliance in the report in question; nor has he any information that would confirm the statement made therein that officers and men were sent or are being sent from Mexico to assist Sandino or the statement that Mexico is continuing to send forward fighting men in small detachments for that purpose.
While, as previously reported, the Mexican Government has not concealed its belief that the policy of the United States in Nicaragua is a mistaken one, I am persuaded that its disagreement with us in that respect finds no expression in secret aid to Sandino and others in Nicaragua who are now engaged in hostilities against the United States forces in that country. …
The Department is aware, of course, of the existence in Mexico, as elsewhere, including the United States, of a so-called Comité pro-Sandino, which collects funds openly in public places and by private solicitation, ostensibly for the purpose of sending medical supplies to Sandino’s forces. This organization is understood to be an entirely private one and to have no connection whatever with the Mexican Government … The organization seems to enjoy the particular favor of the Ucsaya, which is also active in this country but which, likewise, has no connection with the Mexican Government. The newspapers here occasionally report the dispatch of funds collected by the Comité pro-Sandino to Sandino and the forwarding of medical supplies, but it is believed that the funds collected are quite inadequate to recruit officers and men, supply and equip them, and forward them to Nicaragua.
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩