817.00/8618
Señores Juan B. Sacasa, Emiliano Chamorro, and Adolfo Diaz to the Secretary of State
[Received December 3.]
Excellency: The keen interest and friendly goodwill displayed at all times by the United States of America for the good of Nicaragua, especially in what concerns the upholding of a foundation for a lasting peace, prompts us to address ourselves to you.
We are three of the four signatories of the agreement subscribed in the American Legation, in Managua, on the 5th. of November 1932,82 [Page 845] wherein the then candidates to the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of Nicaragua agreed to the continuance of the National Guard after the withdrawal of the United States Marines, in accordance with a plan previously approved by both Governments for transferring the National Guard to complete Nicaraguan control.
Previous to the signing of the agreement, we called the attention of the American Minister, Hon. Matthew E. Hanna, to the danger that the maintenance of the National Guard, under the new command called for in the plan, would eventually constitute a threat to peace and order, for, under such command, it would hardly retain the non-political character it had previously enjoyed.
To this, Minister Hanna replied that we could rest assured that the American Government would morally guarantee the agreement, which for that reason would be subscribed under his good offices, would bear his signature and have the seal of the Legation. Trusting in this promise, of which we could not doubt, both because of the personality of the American Minister and of the official communications containing his Government’s suggestions regarding the National Guard, we agreed to sign the proposed agreement.
The independence from Government control which it had been considered convenient to give the National Guard at the time of its establishment in 1927 under American officers, took away from the Executive all effective interference in the management of that institution. Therefore, when the United States Marines withdrew, the new Nicaraguan Government, forbidden to organize any armed body, even a police force, was left, except for promised United States moral support, entirely at the mercy of the Guard. Nevertheless, had the officers of the Guard refrained, according to the agreement, from interfering in politics, the Guard could have rendered invaluable services to the Nation. This unfortunately was not the case.
General Somoza, head of the National Guard, nominated himself a candidate for President and launched his electoral campaign supported by the National Guard long before the time within which political parties are permitted to do so according to law.
President Sacasa exhausted all pacific means in his power to induce the Chief Director of the National Guard to remain within the limits of respect for the national institutions, and of submission to his authority as Commanding General; and more than once the American Minister exerted his good offices for the cause of peace, endeavoring always to avoid a break between the Government and the National Guard.
In the presence of constitutional impediments for the candidacy of General Somoza for the Presidency of the Republic in the coming elections, not only by reason of the bonds of affinity within the third degree [Page 846] that relates him to ex-President Sacasa, but also by the fact that he is in active military service, which also inhibits him internationally in accordance with the Central American Treaty of 1923, signed in Washington, and in view, further, of the fact that a militaristic candidacy forced on the people by the army would be a menace to the welfare of the country, President Sacasa and the Board of Directors of both parties, Liberal and Conservative, which sum up the mass of public opinion in Nicaragua, succeeded in reaching an accord for the harmonious solution of the political problem created by General Somoza with the National Guard.
The efforts made by President Sacasa and both parties to make General Somoza desist from his candidacy were all in vain, notwithstanding his repeated promises in this sense, some of them made in the presence of the American Minister, Hon. Arthur Bliss Lane.
General Somoza, aware of the fact that the two political parties had formed a single union based on a formulae headed by Dr. Leonardo Argüello, launched himself into open rebellion, forcing the resignations of both President Sacasa and Vice-President Espinoza R.; and since then holds sway over the country by armed force and violence, treading on liberty and suffrage, thus bringing about one of those conditions that sooner or later have everywhere and always resulted in civil wars, which at present would be more than ever disastrous in Nicaragua since its low economic condition makes her an easy prey to communism and anarchy.
The lack of guarantees which make impossible all electoral activities has already caused the withdrawal from the campaign of the Argüello-Espinoza R. ticket, in spite of the weighty volume of public opinion supporting it. Were a truly honest election to be conducted, one in which the National Guard would not take any active political part, the popular vote would never favor General Somoza’s candidacy.
Therefore Nicaragua is at present in a critical state of affairs that may bring about grave consequences for domestic peace and wellbeing; and any serious disturbance in our country could easily result in deep repercussions in her sister Republics of Central America.
The Government of the United States, guided by its lofty and humanitarian spirit, and of true Pan Americanism, could lend Nicaragua in these times of need the valuable moral support of its friendly influence to the end that all the evils emanating from the National Guard, which have thwarted the sentiments and purposes that inspired the Governments of Nicaragua and the United States in creating and sustaining that institution, be remedied.
The electoral supervision, carried out three times in Nicaragua with the consent and assistance of both political parties, is generally regarded as the first step towards the withdrawal of the American intervention and gave the natural benefits of a free election in the school [Page 847] of democracy, awakening at the same time a spirit of conviviality and conciliation between the Parties. The source of the troubles which now afflict the Republic is not to be found in the political parties themselves or in the people but in the present defective organization of the National Guard.
The principle of non-intervention, dear to all the Latin-American peoples and on which is based the policy of “good-neighbor” so full of prestige and so emphatically proclaimed by President Roosevelt, must not exclude the friendly cooperation between the American countries, in as much as indifference to the struggles and misfortunes of a friendly or sister nation can in no way denote goodwill towards her.
In the present case of Nicaragua, such cooperation from the United States follows as a natural sequence of the international origin of the National Guard, and as a means to the complete realization of the purposes of order and peace which beyond any doubt guided the American Government in suggesting the maintenance of that institution. In our capacity as Ex-Presidents of that Republic, we are fully aware of the effective value of that friendly influence in Central America and the much good that can be attained by it, when properly directed, without blemish for the autonomy of our country or impairing the prestige of the American Continental policy.
We are not asking for the occupation of the country nor an intervention in favor of any person or political party, but merely the disinterested moral cooperation of the American Government in favor of the Nicaraguan people.
The constructive and cordial ideology that inspires President Roosevelt in his inter-American policy encourage the Nicaraguan people in their longing for liberty by peaceful and orderly means.
With expressions [etc.]
- Emiliano Chamorro
- Juan B. Sacasa
- Adolfo Diaz