714.44A15/183
The Under Secretary of State (Welles) to the Minister in Guatemala (Des Portes)
My Dear Mr. Minister: I have received your letter of May 10, 1940 with reference to the Belize dispute. I have noted particularly the report which has reached you that I am supposed to have recommended that these negotiations should be dragged out as long as possible. Neither I nor, as far as I am aware, any other officer of the Department of State has made any such statement. On the contrary, I have repeatedly urged on the British Ambassador the desirability of reaching a prompt settlement of this dispute. In your discretion you may use this information to correct any misapprehension which you may find to exist in official Guatemalan quarters.
I am confident that there has been some misunderstanding in this regard and I shall take an early opportunity to clarify this question with the British Embassy here.
Sincerely yours,