714.44A15/142: Telegram
The Minister in Guatemala (Des Portes) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7:55 p.m.]
28. My telegram No. 24, March 5, 1 p.m. The Guatemalan reply dated March 7 to the British note of March 4 denies any Guatemalan claim or desire for cession of territory or compliance with the obligations contracted under article 7. It reiterates its request that the arbitral tribunal be given full jurisdiction “to decide whether or not the Republic of Guatemala has the right to take back the territory of Belize which it ceded to Great Britain by means of the formula of boundary settlement” contained in the 1859 Treaty, and if the dispute should return to the status preceding 1859.
The reply is couched in polite phraseology and concludes with the hope that it may soon be possible to submit the whole controversy to arbitration.
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