817.1051/309
The Chargé in Nicaragua (Hanna) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 15.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of the Articles for the Government of the Guardia Nacional of Nicaragua prepared by General McDougal and approved by President Moncada on July 5, 1929.57
Article I provides that the personnel of the Guardia will be subject for all military offenses and for acts committed in the line of duty to the jurisdiction of military tribunals, and that the findings of such tribunals are not subject to appeal or review except by the Supreme Court of Nicaragua and then only on questions of excess power or questions of jurisdiction. The Article further provides that:
Other offenses committed by members of the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua shall be investigated by officers of the Guardia Nacional as directed by the Chief of the Guardia Nacional. If it should appear upon investigation that the offense is not subject to military jurisdiction, the offender will be turned over to the civil authorities.
The foregoing provisions of the Articles have a bearing upon the matters discussed in the Department’s instructions No. 519 of May 29, 1929, and No. 521 of June 6, 1929, concerning the amendments proposed by the Nicaraguan Government in the Agreement for the establishment of the Guardia Nacional, especially upon Paragraph 6 of the draft note to be presented by the Nicaraguan Government to this Legation which was enclosed with instruction No. 519 just mentioned.
I have [etc.]
[In a letter dated December 5, 1929, to Allen Dulles, in care of Sullivan and Cromwell, New York, Francis White, Assistant Secretary of State, wrote as follows with respect to the agreement as passed in amended form by the Nicaraguan Congress on February 21, 1929:
“The Department has not yet acquiesced in the amendments to this joint agreement, but has in mind certain modifications designed principally to insure that regular budgetary provision will be made for the upkeep of the Guardia, and to adjust the agreement in other ways to meet certain technical requirements.” (817.1051/339a)]
- Not printed.↩