715.1715/1251
Memorandum by the Special Representative of the President (Corrigan), Temporarily in Washington
I have the honor to report in brief on the state of affairs at San José between the submission of briefs of the delegates and prior to adjournment of the plenary sessions of the Mediation Commission. The mediation had reached the point where continuance of the conferences could [Page 256] have had no other result than complete failure to obtain the desired settlement. This serious threat of failure was brought about by the interaction of two factors: (1) Inability to obtain the slightest concession of Honduras from the immovable position taken at the outset; and (2) The determination of the Costa Rican Government to force the issue and pillory the Honduran Government for its intransigency, fixing the blame for failure upon Honduran obstinacy so that Costa Rica and the other mediators would escape any responsibility in the matter. This program was not at all in harmony with the desire for a definite settlement and was adopted rather selfishly for reasons of local political considerations. The Venezuelan member of the Commission could not bring himself to believe that the position of the Honduran delegates was immovable. He gave a grudging consent to a recess only after a three-hour session of the Commission with the Honduran delegation had finally convinced him of the uselessness of further conversations. It required three weeks of tactfully applied effort and a final determined statement of opinion to win consent of the other mediators to a conference with the disputant delegations as to their willingness to recess. The reason advanced for postponement was the need of minute studies and technical consultations regarding the briefs and “annexes” which had been presented to the commission by the delegations. The Nicaraguan delegation was quite willing to recess providing it could be done by an act of mutual accord, adopted and signed by both delegations and the members of the Mediation Commission so as to eliminate possible adverse comment. The Honduran delegation, after a little hesitation, agreed to this plan and an act of postponement of the plenary sessions for two months was drawn up and signed in a formal session to which representatives of the press were admitted. The recess, obtained with such difficulty, undoubtedly saved the situation and insured the continuance of the Mediation. After the recess Dr. Rodriguez, the Venezuelan representative, received several telegrams from Señor Gil Borges, Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs, instructing him to oppose a recess. Even after the recess was a fact, he was ordered to remain in San José. The instructions forbidding his consent to a recess fortunately arrived too late to prevent the recess and only served to embarrass and disturb Dr. Rodriguez very greatly. They may have been the result of unwarranted optimistic reports previously sent to his government by the Venezuelan representative.
In the course of a series of informal conversations with the various delegates following the recess, and during a conversation in my office in the Grand Hotel de Costa Rica on April 13, 1938 it was intimated to me by Dr. Julián López Pineda of the Honduran delegation that it might be acceptable to Honduras to agree to pay indemnities to [Page 257] Nicaraguan interests on the north side of the Segovia and to consent to a common administration of that river with freedom of navigation thereon. This was the first intimation of a possible concession by Honduras and it may be the entering wedge toward attaining an acceptable compromise.
In view of the above, it is evident that a renewal of the plenary sessions on June 9 without having some definite commitments in advance would place the mediation in the same perilous position from which it was rescued by the Act of Recess of April 9. Efforts to secure a further postponement of the date for renewal of the plenary sessions seems to be an urgent requirement. In this connection it would be reasonable for the Department to state very frankly to both the disputants and the other mediating governments that suggestions for the final settlement of such an important matter could not be made by the representative of his government nor could he be instructed to agree to suggestions advanced by the other mediators until adequate legal and other technical studies of the positions advanced by the disputant governments were satisfactorily completed. Since it is impossible to state at this moment the time necessary for these studies, we should ask that the date of renewal of the San José conferences be left open for the present.
As a first step I suggest that the co-operation of the Venezuelan and Costa Rican Ministers in Washington be sought. To this end they might be invited to come to the Department in order to acquaint them with the steps now being taken and to secure through them the agreement of their governments on a decision to postpone the date for renewal of the plenary sessions, following which, the President of the commission can inform the governments of Honduras and Nicaragua of this decision.