718.652/6
The Minister in Costa Rica ( Eberhardt ) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 6.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to Instruction No. 174 of March 15, 1932 in respect of the wording of future treaties of Commerce, Navigation and Consular Rights which the Republic of Costa Rica may consider entering into with particular reference to any provisions in such treaties whereby nationals of the other contracting States would enjoy the same rights as Costa Rican citizens in the use of canals, and which may, in case a treaty having in view the construction of an interoceanic canal is eventually negotiated between the United States and Costa Rica, furnish an element of difficulty in such negotiations.
As the Department is aware, a new President, and his Government, will enter into office during the coming month of May,4 and at the present moment Don Ricardo Jiménez is apparently the person who will be chosen Chief of State. During a conversation which Mr. Werlich5 had yesterday with Mr. Ricardo Castro Beeche, formerly private secretary to Ricardo Jiménez and the latter’s present administrative manager, the impression was obtained that in all likelihood no treaties of Commerce, Navigation and Consular Rights will be entered into by the new regime, individual informal agreements being considered more satisfactory to Costa Rican interests. Thus it is possible that the Legation will not need to take any steps toward the discouraging of granting special rights to foreign powers by Costa Rica through treaties which might furnish an element of difficulty in negotiations by the United States. However, I shall keep the Department’s point of view in mind in case the situation as outlined in Instruction No. 174 should arise.
Respectfully yours,
- See Foreign Relations, 1932, vol. v, pp. 512 ff.↩
- McCeney Werlich, Third Secretary of the Legation in Costa Rica.↩