818.20/42

The Minister in Costa Rica (Hornibrook) to the Secretary of State
[Extracts]
No. 2556

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s instruction No. 433 of September 4, 1940, stating that the War Department was prepared to send a military mission to Costa Rica provided that the Costa Rican Government agreed to the changes recommended by Lieutenant Colonel Montesinos.

The substance of the Department’s instruction under reference was forwarded to the President and a copy of his reply is enclosed,30 as well as a translation of it. It will be noted that the President does not say that he has agreed to the recommendations of Colonel Montesinos, but only that the recommendations are being studied very carefully. I believe that the reason that a more definite and affirmative reply was not made is due to fears that the cost of the Military Mission might be too great, in spite of the fact that my letter to the President, which was almost a verbatim copy of the Department’s instruction under reference, specifically stated that “my Government has informed me that it is confident that an agreement can be reached with respect to the compensation to be paid to the members of that mission which will be entirely satisfactory to the Costa Rican Government and well within its capacity to pay”. …

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Costa Rican Government desires the Military Mission and is fully in agreement with the statement of the War Department that unless the recommendations of Colonel Montesinos are carried out that it would be useless to send the Military Mission. It is believed that as soon as they are sure of the compensation they will have to [Page 94] pay that they will give a definite affirmation to the recommendations of Colonel Montesinos.31

Respectfully yours,

Wm. H. Hornibrook
  1. Reply not printed.
  2. No agreement for a military mission was reached at that time. Such an agreement was finally signed on December 10, 1945. See Department of State Bulletin, December 16, 1945, p. 975.