715.1715/322: Telegram
The Chargé in Nicaragua (Hanna) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 18—12:15 p.m.]
226. The Minister for Foreign Affairs called upon me this morning and showed me two notes he has received from Honduran Minister in this capital. The first, dated September 12, reviews the history of the Nicaraguan attitude favorable to compliance with the award of the King of Spain in the Nicaraguan-Honduran boundary controversy and quotes the statements of President Moncada and the Minister for Foreign Affairs transmitted with my despatch No. 1025 of June 6, 1925 [1929].52 He also quotes a statement attributed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the effect that conversations in the matter cannot be initiated until the northern regions of Nicaragua have been pacified. The note assumes that such pacification has been accomplished and proposes that steps be initiated to comply with the award. Finally the note suggests that, pending the determination of [Page 977] the boundary by a commission, Honduras should be given immediate possession of all the left bank of the Coco River.
It appears that, at about the same time the foregoing note was delivered to the Nicaraguan Government, the left bank of the Coco River was occupied by some garrisons of Honduran armed forces, presumably by the orders of the Honduran Government, and that they proceeded to exercise jurisdiction over the territory thus occupied which it seems has long been under the jurisdiction of Nicaragua. I had been led to believe until today that this occupation was through error and that it would be terminated by Honduras without serious incident. The second note, dated September 16, refers specifically to this occupation and transcribes a telegram from the Honduran Minister for Foreign Affairs. Orders had been given for the withdrawal of armed forces from the occupied places “with the understanding that our (Honduran) territorial rights over these places are expressly recognized because they are in the region which the award of the King of Spain allots to Honduras”. Continuing, the note states the Honduran Government accepts the suggestion of the Nicaraguan Minister at Tegucigalpa that a commission of three engineers, one named by Nicaragua, one by Honduras, and the third by the Government of the United States be created to establish the boundary line as fixed by the award, and requests the Government of Nicaragua to agree that the Government of the United States be asked to tender its good offices for the solution of this boundary dispute.
These notes threaten to create a serious crisis in this matter. When the Minister for Foreign Affairs saw me this morning he was agitated and said he had instructions from the President to inform the Honduran Minister that the Nicaraguan Government could not accede at this time to the pretension of the Honduran Government that it has territorial rights over the places in dispute and to demand the immediate evacuation of the occupied territory. He said further that the commission proposed by this Government was an arbitral commission, the American member of which would be the arbiter, and not a commission of engineers as stated by the Honduran Government. He desired me to submit the matter to the Department and to state that his Government would appreciate the Department’s advice and assistance. I reminded him that precipitate and ill-considered action by the Nicaraguan Government at this moment might bring about a crisis and counseled him to make no reply to the notes or to take any action which might result in an impasse before I received the Department’s reply. He assented.
Subsequently I saw President Moncada at his request and he also requested the Department’s assistance and assured me that his Government [Page 978] would delay further action in the matter pending Department’s advice. He seems to appreciate the consequences which probably would follow a demand by this Government that Honduras withdraw her forces from the occupied territory, but he thinks those forces must be withdrawn and the status quo reestablished if a crisis is to be avoided and if negotiations in the boundary matter are to be resumed.
[Paraphrase.] President Moncada said he feared that the Honduran Government had taken advantage of his recent friendly gesture in this matter and of the circumstance that the armed forces of Nicaragua are under the command of American officers, and he observed that under this circumstance he is in a quandary with regard to the use he might make of the national guard to meet such a situation. [End paraphrase.]
Repeated to Tegucigalpa.
- Not printed.↩