715.1715/1313: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Panama (Corrigan)
49. Your 89, August 24, 4 p.m. The plans discussed with you and embodied in Department’s unnumbered instruction dated October 25, 1937,54 provide for informal consultation in San José with Rodriguez [Page 266] and Zuniga Montufar and then for informal visits to the capitals of the two disputant countries.
Inasmuch as Dr. Rodriguez already is favorably disposed to the procedure discussed here in the Department, it was believed that the consultation in San José should be brief since no reason is known why Zuniga Montufar should have objection to this procedure. Although the Costa Rica–Panama dispute has some points of contact with the Nicaragua–Honduras dispute, the Department does not believe that the public discussion regarding the proposed Costa Rica–Panama settlement should have any determining influence upon the course of developments of the Nicaragua–Honduras dispute.
The interest of the Department in the early settlement of the Nicaragua–Honduras dispute has been clearly manifested to the representatives of the two countries concerned on numerous occasions, including the luncheon given in honor of Dr. Rodriguez and attended by the diplomatic representatives of the two countries in Washington. The Department has recently reassured the Nicaraguan Government of its sincere desire to bring this dispute to a satisfactory adjustment, that Government having pointed out that its public opinion is becoming restless at the inactivity of the Commission.
The Department continues of the belief that the Commission should exert itself to bring about a settlement of this dispute within the shortest possible time limit and along the lines outlined in the instruction of October 25, 1937. Consideration of course will be given to any information as a result of your forthcoming trip to San José which would in your opinion make this course inadvisable.