817.00/6411
The Chargé in Nicaragua (Hanna) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 23.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that on a number of occasions recently President Moncada has brought to my attention evidence [Page 597] indicating that elements within and without Nicaragua opposed to his administration are plotting against his Government. The evidence is mainly circumstantial, consisting of reports from his agents, intercepted telegrams and letters and the suspicious acts of individuals.
A day or so ago when I was lunching alone with the President he brought up this subject and showed me the latest batch of such evidence received by him. It is evident that he is greatly disturbed by the menace of the plotting and is pre-occupied with the problem it presents.
The Vice-President, Dr. Enoc Aguado, recently called upon me and discussed one phase of this plotting, and I transmitted a memorandum of our conversation in a personal letter to Mr. Francis White, dated September 17, from which it would appear that Dr. Aguado shares the President’s belief that the assassination of President Moncada is a part of the plan of the plotters. Reference is also made in that memorandum to the most recent imprisonment of Gabry Rivas because the President was convinced that Rivas was one of the principal instigators of the proposed attempt against his life, but that he was subsequently set at liberty by President Moncada’s order because the President lacked evidence of the sort that would convict Rivas.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs called upon me this morning by the President’s direction and, after referring to what the President had told me in this connection when I lunched with him, said that, while it is the President’s intention to exercise extraordinary vigilance to prevent any act which may disturb the peace and order of the country, he will nevertheless proceed in this matter with the greatest circumspection and will not resort to extreme measures without having evidence in’ his possession which will completely justify prosecution in the manner established by law. Dr. Cordero Reyes said that the President wished me to inform the Department that his attitude is as just stated. I asked Dr. Cordero Reyes if there had been any new developments which furnish evidence of the kind mentioned, and he replied in the negative and added that the President merely wanted the Legation and the Department to be advised as stated in the event that he should have to proceed energetically at some future time. The, attitude of President Moncada as stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs is a confirmation of what the President has previously told me on more than one occasion and of the statement made in a public gathering which is mentioned in my memorandum referred to above.
Dr. Aguado told me in his recent conversation with me that he, as a lawyer, had advised the President not to act on incomplete evidence as in the last imprisonment of Gabry Rivas but to increase [Page 598] the vigilance of his agents and allow the plotters to entangle themselves in a net-work of evidence sufficient to convict them. It may be that the President has accepted this advice and has instructed the Minister for Foreign Affairs to deliver the message stated above in anticipation of possible arrests and prosecutions in the near future.
I have [etc.]