816.01/67: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Costa Rica (Eberhardt)
6. Your 9, February 1, 4 p.m. If you have occasion to discuss this matter again with the Minister for Foreign Affairs you may say that the latest advices from San Salvador are that the de facto authorities have the situation well under control. In view of this the American and Canadian war vessels have been withdrawn from Salvadoran waters, and the British cruiser which had been held in readiness at Panama has returned to its station in the Caribbean. Our Legation at San Salvador has reported that on February 1 the three Communist leaders of the recent revolt were, after condemnation by court martial, publicly executed.
[Page 574]If, as you indicate, the real purpose of the plan proposed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs is to secure recognition for the present regime in Salvador, the Department is at a loss to understand how the Minister for Foreign Affairs intends to accomplish this consistently with the obligations assumed by Costa Rica under the 1923 Treaty. There cannot be the slightest doubt that under the provisions of that Treaty Martínez is debarred from recognition, and the other Central American states, including Costa Rica, have announced publicly their unanimous decision to that effect. It is not perceived how Costa Rica and the other Central American states could now take action looking to the recognition of Martínez, except by reversing the decision they have already announced and by a repudiation of their treaty obligations. It would, therefore, be interesting to know the grounds on which the Minister for Foreign Affairs may now believe that it would be possible to grant recognition to Martínez.
Repeated to San Salvador as Dept’s 19.