713.1311/141
The Minister in Guatemala (Whitehouse) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 22.]
Sir: With reference to my telegram No. 86 of December 12, 12 Noon, I have the honor to report that Mr. Pacheco left Guatemala yesterday to return to Costa Rica. Before leaving he made the following statement to the press:
(Translation) “The Government of my country has not had the preconceived purpose of declaring the Pacts of Washington lapsed; but the opinion of President Jiménez and myself is that those treaties contain elements that are good, elements that are mediocre, and elements that are bad. Having that belief, my Government decided to entrust me with a special mission to this country with the object first of working for the strengthening of the fraternal feelings between Costa Rica and Guatemala, a task in which I feel that I have gained [Page 345] everything desired, and, second, of proposing that the treaties be revised at an international Central-American Conference in order to preserve their good features, amend the mediocre ones, and suppress the bad ones. I hoped that such a conference could be held immediately; but I have had to yield to the strong arguments which were expounded to me and agree to the convocation for the month of April of the coming year, at which time the period of transition will have passed and all of the Central-American Governments will be organized with the newly elected presidents and provided definitely with their foreign offices and representatives.”
The above statement is in accordance with what the Minister of Foreign Affairs told me and is an effort to prevent everyone from realizing what a complete failure Mr. Pacheco’s trip was.
Respectfully yours,