816.00 Revolutions/48
The Minister in El Salvador (Curtis) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 21.]
Sir: Referring to my telegrams regarding the events of the revolution which took place in this country during the first days of the month, I have the honor to make the following corrections of statements contained therein.
In my telegram No. 97 of December 3—7 AM, I stated that the President was bringing troops from Santa Tecla. This statement was based on information given me by telephone from Santa Tecla by Mr. Salvador Godoy, the private secretary of President Araujo. As a matter of fact armed men were sent as outposts approximately onethird of the distance from Santa Tecla to the capital and no advance against the capital was attempted.
My telegram of December 3, 9 [11] a.m., No. 98, stated that the civilian population was apparently decidedly in favor of President Araujo. Even allowing for the fact that in such a country as this nothing succeeds like success and that therefore the vast majority of the people are now more or less enthusiastically on the side of the government of General Martínez, I believe that the loyalty to President Araujo was limited to appearances due to the fact that there was still a possibility that he would be able to reestablish himself as President.
[Page 198]The statement in my telegram No. 100 of December 3—4 p.m., that Messrs. Gomez Zarate and Enrique Cordova and General Claramount were probably back of the revolution and that the last was probably one of the leaders, has been partly contradicted by my telegram No. 105 of December 4—10 a.m. [1 p.m.] I should add, however, that there is now every indication that General Claramount was not concerned in this revolution. A definite statement was made to me by one of President Araujo’s intimates to the effect that General Claramount was the organizer and leader of the revolution and, although it soon became clear to me that this statement was inaccurate, I believed at the time of sending my telegram that he had participated in it. Since then I have learned that he has been completely ignored by the leaders of the revolution. I am unreliably informed that he was organizing a revolution of his own and that he is now seeking to place himself in a position to overthrow the Government of General Martínez.
In my telegram No. 105 of December 4—10 AM [1 p.m.], I stated that Generals Martínez and Claramount and other higher officers were assisting actively in the revolution. The statement concerning General Claramount has been dealt with in the preceding paragraph; that concerning General Martínez has been dealt with in some detail in later telegrams. As nearly as I can now learn the only higher officers actively assisting in the revolution were Colonels Joaquín Valdes and Osmin Aguirre, concerning whose activities I have reported in some detail.
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Respectfully yours,