817.1051/256: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Nicaragua (Eberhardt)
26. Your 46, February 9, 4 p.m. It was the hope of the Department, as stated by you previously, that President Moncada would be able to secure the passage of the bill without amendments. Of course you will appreciate that it is vitally important that a satisfactory agreement be voted and if, by accepting certain of the suggested amendments, it will help to bring this about, the Department would have no objection. For example, there would seem to be no objection to the amendment of the preamble, as telegraphed up by you, nor of the second paragraph of article 1, and, if insisted upon, the proposed amendments to articles 4, 5 and 7 also would appear to be acceptable. Likewise, although the Department would prefer that the second amendment to article 2 and the amendment to article 3 should not be made, it would not insist if the changes suggested would bring about the acceptance of the agreement.
The Department feels that it must insist that no change be made on the following two principal points: The first amendment to article 1 in which it is stipulated that the foregoing provisions shall be “the only ones” which shall be authorized, rather than regarded as “the minimum requirements.” Similarly, the Department feels that it cannot accept the first change suggested in article 2. The Department regards it as essential to the proper functioning of the guardia and the carrying out of the Stimson Agreement that the Guardia Nacional shall be “the sole military and police force of the Republic.”
[Page 616]It is the desire of the Department that you impress upon President Moncada that the purpose of the Tipitapa Agreement was to bring about permanent peace, order, and stability in Nicaragua, and the Department is confident that he will agree with it that this condition has not yet been brought about. The Department, prior to the elections, exerted its utmost influence with the then Nicaraguan Government to have it scrupulously live up to that Agreement and during all that time General Moncada was insisting upon strict compliance with it. The concern of this Government is in having peace and order prevail in Nicaragua and it has not and will not support any political party or faction. The Department is obliged therefore to call just as firmly to the attention of President Moncada’s Government the obligations of that agreement as it did to his predecessor’s government; and if President Moncada will consider the matter in this light, the Department feels confident that he will support the original text of the guardia agreement in the cases mentioned above. Particular reference in this case is made to the provision in the Stimson Agreement that the guardia will be the sole military establishment of the Republic of Nicaragua. This provision cannot be carried out with the amendment to article 2 as proposed. Likewise, if the guardia is to be effective and efficient, it should not be hampered through a curtailment of funds such as would be possible should the first amendment to article 1 be made.
The changes referred to above, you will understand, are those set forth in your previous telegram. It might be possible, in view of the statements made in your previous despatch, that President Moncada could get the agreement through more easily without any modifications by standing on the Tipitapa Agreement and the advisory opinion given by the Supreme Court to the Congress. The Department therefore wishes you to communicate the above to President Moncada, and to him only, in strict confidence, making it clear to him that he is considered by the Department responsible for the whole matter.
Regarding the independent political activities of officers of the American armed forces in Nicaragua, the Department’s attitude with reference thereto has been set forth to you in the past and is in point in the situation described in your telegram No. 46. This is fundamental and the Department wishes it to be fully understood that there is no difference of opinion with the Navy Department regarding this. I hope that it will not become necessary for the Navy Department to issue any direct orders to the officers immediately concerned on this subject.