817.812/805: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Costa Rica ( Hornibrook )
24. By desire of the President, the Minister of Costa Rica18 was requested to call at the Department this afternoon and he was informed that it was the wish of this Government that the Government of Costa Rica be informed immediately of the precise nature of the negotiations which had taken place during the visit in Washington of the President of Nicaragua and of the agreements19 which had been reached.
For your information there is quoted the pertinent portion of the text of a memorandum of the conversation with the Costa Rican Minister:
“I told the Minister that President Somoza had been informed by the President that the Congress had already indicated its decision to favor construction of a third series of locks in the Panama Canal20 and to postpone any further consideration of the construction of the Nicaraguan canal. I said, furthermore, that the estimates presented to the President by the engineers of the War Department for the construction of the Nicaraguan inter-oceanic canal had been so huge as to make it impracticable for this government at this time to give any further consideration to the question on the ground of the expense involved quite apart from other considerations.
I stated that President Somoza had then urged upon this Government an agreement between Nicaragua and the United States whereby the Government of the United States would provide the Government of Nicaragua with funds sufficient to make possible as a project of the Nicaraguan Government, and under its control, the canalization of the San Juan River so that the River might be used as a barge canal with the further possibility of opening a barge canal between the Lake of Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean through the Isthmus of Rivas. I said that this matter had been given very detailed consideration by the President and that he had reached the decision in agreement with President Somoza to lend to the Government of Nicaragua the services of a group of Army engineers of the United States for the purpose of making a study and report upon the cost which would be incurred by the Government of Nicaragua through the canalization of the San Juan River and through the creation of a barge canal from the Lake of Nicaragua to the Pacific Ocean. I said that the Minister would clearly understand that the commitment of the United States went no further and that all that was now in mind was the preparation of this report and estimates.
[Page 734]I said that throughout the negotiations this Government had borne clearly in mind the rights of the Government of Costa Rica in so far as the River San Juan was concerned and that both the President and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua in their conversations with officials of this Government have repeatedly recognized the rights of Costa Rica in this regard.
I said, therefore, that it was the desire of the President that the Government of Costa Rica be informed fully of this fact and that it should be further advised that in the event that the study and report and the estimates prepared by these engineers for the Government of Nicaragua made it appear that the canalization of the San Juan River and the construction of a barge canal through the Lake of Nicaragua to the Pacific Ocean were feasible, nothing further would be done by this Government in the matter until and unless the Government of Costa Rica and the Government of Nicaragua reached an agreement covering the projected canalization of the River San Juan. In that event, I said, a convention would have subsequently to be concluded between the United States and the Government of Nicaragua for submission to the Senate of the United States in order that ratification by the Senate might be obtained. I stated that in this manner it would seem to me very clear that the rights of Costa Rica would be fully protected and that the Government of Costa Rica would be free to reach its own decision as to its wishes in the matter. I said that the general idea had been given favorable consideration by this Government because of our belief that the canalization of the River and the construction of the barge canal would open up to profitable development the interior regions both of Nicaragua and of Costa Rica and would greatly facilitate and stimulate trade between the United States and the two neighboring republics. I said further that if the barge canal were completed between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, such a canal would undoubtedly be of considerable service from the standpoint of continental military defense.
The Minister expressed his very great appreciation of the information I had given him. He said that he had not approached me in the matter because of the entire confidence which his Government and he himself had that this Government would give full recognition to the legitimate rights of Costa Rica. He said that, of course, under the arrangements I explained to him, the United States itself would not be undertaking the work involved but that the work would rather be undertaken by the Government of Nicaragua itself with financial assistance provided by the United States. He said that consequently the arrangements to be reached with regard to their respective rights in the San Juan River would have to be reached directly between Nicaragua and Costa Rica and that because of the very friendly relations existing between the two present Governments, he anticipated no difficulty on that score. The Minister asked if I could give him technical information as to the size of the vessels which would be enabled to transverse the contemplated barge canal and I said that none of these details had been determined or even discussed and that all that the engineers would be required to report upon would be the compilation of two alternative estimates, one estimating for the construction of a barge canal for vessels of 10-foot draft and the other estimate for vessels of 12-foot draft.”
The Minister of Costa Rica stated that he would cable a summary of the above immediately to the President of Costa Rica for the latter’s information.
You are requested to call upon the Minister for Foreign Affairs and to communicate to him the statements contained in the text above quoted without leaving, however, any written copy thereof.