715.1715/517: Telegram

The Chargé in Nicaragua (Castleman) to the Secretary of State

86. On August 26th I airmailed my despatch No. 593 dated August 26th17 which should arrive in Washington Monday [Tuesday?] or so, the despatch describing the present state between Nicaragua and Honduras, to be briefly summarized as follows:

In 1935 Honduras issued an airmail postage stamp with a map of that country which depicted the territory in dispute between Honduras [Page 58] and Nicaragua as definitely within Honduran boundaries, even including, according to President Somoza, territory which has been and is controlled by Nicaraguan authorities. The Minister for Foreign Affairs informs me that at the time when the Honduran stamp was issued Nicaragua did not consider the matter worthy of protest.

On August 10th of this year a Nicaraguan airmail stamp with a map of Nicaragua was put into circulation which segregated the area in question and labelled it “territory in dispute.”

Honduras presented a note of protest, requesting that the stamp be withdrawn from circulation.

The Honduran position is reported to me to be based on the arbitral award of the King of Spain, which assigned the territory to Honduras, an award which Nicaragua—for factual and juridical reasons adduced—did not accept. It will be recalled that the good offices of the United States, with a view to obtaining a settlement, were offered in 1918, and that in 192118 the Secretary of State suggested arbitration before the Chief Justice of the United States, a suggestion which Nicaragua accepted but Honduras declined.

The territory is now supervised by Nicaragua and Honduras under a “status quo” arrangement which divides it, for present purposes, into two zones, one under each of the two nations.

General Somoza invited me to the Casa Presidencial yesterday evening to complain regarding the matter, stating that he is deeply concerned and wishes the Department of State to have complete information.

He informed me that the President of Guatemala has offered his mediation in the stamp incident and also his arbitration to settle the whole question of the territory.

To gain time, he explained, President Somoza replied to the Guatemalan proposal that he could not give a decision until after despatching Nicaragua’s reply to the Honduran note of protest. Such reply, he told me, will be despatched Tuesday.

He informed me that the Nicaraguan note will be drawn with moderation but must convey refusal to withdraw the stamp and a statement of Nicaragua’s position as regards the territory in question.

Thursday, he said, he explained his position to the Honduran Minister and called his attention to the following circumstances: that he (the President) had loyally kept his frontier territory clear of Honduran political émigrés, by considerable labor and at the expense of political affinities with the émigrés, who are Liberals; that he knew that Honduras is strengthening her border forces by gathering local levies, but that he has not increased his men or moved a soldier; that [Page 59] his policy will be to await aggression if the matter comes to a conflict but that he cannot fail to protect Nicaraguan interests if driven. He stated to me that he asked the Honduran Minister to inform President Carias of the above facts and that, through the Minister, he requested Carias to stop troop movements in the interest of preventing friction or incidents which can drive the two countries into a war that would ruin them both.

Further, he specifically asked that I convey to the Department (1) that he will accept the mediation of the President of Guatemala to put an end to the present friction between the two countries but (2) as regards the offer of arbitration of territorial rights he would prefer to have the American Government (that is, the Department of State or its nominee) as arbitrator, and in case this is not possible, “to have the Department’s advice as to the arbitration proposed by President Ubico”.19

The situation here is quiet, and while the newspapers have given ample attention to the affair of the stamps, they have handled it with moderation and an expressed desire for concord.

The President, however, regards conditions as serious.

Castleman
  1. Not printed.
  2. See Foreign Relations, 1921, vol. i, pp. 234 ff.
  3. Jorge Ubico, President of Guatemala.