Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1943, The American Republics, Volume V

715.1715/1624b

The Secretary of State to the Honduran Minister for Foreign Affairs (Aguirre)²

Washington, February 24, 1943.

Excellency: I have the honor to refer to Your Excellency’s note of October 7, 1941,³ the fundamental points of which, I am informed, have been communicated to the Governments of Venezuela and Costa Rica, as well as to this Government, in connection with the mission which was confided to them in October 1937 by the Governments of Honduras and Nicaragua to mediate their boundary controversy.⁴ Because of the special significance which, in the fulfillment of this delicate task, the views of the Honduran Government as set forth in Your Excellency’s note entail for the Governments of the United States of America, Venezuela and Costa Rica, and because of their desire that nothing shall disturb the harmony which happily prevails in this Hemisphere at the present tragic moment of universal war, which affects so profoundly all the nations of the American continent, it was considered indispensable to study Your Excellency’s note in consultation between the respective chancelleries. The result of this study is embodied in the present reply, as an expression of the thought and feeling of the three mediating Governments.

In answering previous communications from the chancelleries of the three mediating Governments, Your Excellency concludes by reiterating the previously expressed decision of the Government of Honduras to consider ended the work of the Mediation Commission,⁵ upon which are representatives of the Governments of the United States of America, Venezuela, and Costa Rica, who act in accordance with the instructions of those Governments.

The preoccupation is emphasized in Your Excellency’s note that the Mediation Commission has diverged, in its delicate functions, from the juridical position assumed by the Honduran Government with respect to the Award of the King of Spain.⁶ To clarify this point, it must be explained that in the instructions of the mediating Governments and the minutes and documents of the Mediation Commission, no basis appears to exist for this preoccupation, in as much as the juridical position assumed by the Government of Honduras with regard to the Award of the King of Spain has always been taken into consideration in connection with possible measures of conciliation which might be suggested. Any proposal of conciliation would have to be previously discussed with the delegates of Honduras and Nicaragua named for the purpose of arriving at a formula acceptable to both Governments, as provided in the last part of the Agreement of Mediation, and in conformity with the procedure of individual consultations with each of them, which was established as the norm by the Mediation Commission when it so happily arrived at the Pact of Mutual Offers of December 10, 1937.⁷ The mediating Governments and ‘their representatives on the Commission would under no circumstances adopt a procedure distinct from the above.

The length of time that has elapsed without the termination of the delicate mission of the Mediation Commission is also emphasized in Your Excellency’s note. With regard to this point the mediating Governments believe that, gratifying as it would have been to arrive quickly at a satisfactory termination of the mission which was entrusted to them, it cannot be affirmed that the delay has exclusively benefited or prejudiced either Honduras or Nicaragua, in as much as the passage of time since the inception of the mediation appears to have worked to the benefit of both of them by engendering an atmosphere of conciliation more favorable to the pacific solution of the dispute.

Notwithstanding the decision of the Government of Honduras reiterated in Your Excellency’s note, the mediating Governments have not adopted immediately the official attitude that their mission is ended, and have not communicated with the Government of Nicaragua, being motivated in this by their keen desire to find an appropriate formula to forestall the feeling of uneasiness which that unilateral decision would inevitably cause in all the nations of the American continent and the repercussions that might result in the Republic of Nicaragua.

The mediating Governments are vividly aware of the need of preserving the most perfect harmony among all the nations of the Western Hemisphere, so that nothing may weaken the position which they have jointly maintained up to the present time with regard to the existing war emergency. The circumstance that the Republics of Honduras and Nicaragua and the mediating nations are cooperating closely in the defense of the continent makes more imperative the maintenance in regard to them of this harmony, and it emphasizes the duty of the Mediating Governments to make a new effort of such a nature that, by virtue of a formula acceptable to the Governments of Honduras and Nicaragua, the conciliatory atmosphere achieved by the mediation shall not be altered.

With such well-justified purposes, which also imply a unity of interest, the Governments of the United States of America, Venezuela, and Costa Rica conscious in their function as mediators of their great responsibilities to the nations of the American continent, cordially propose, in common agreement, to the Government of Honduras that it reconsider its decision set forth in the note of Your Excellency, in order to make possible the maintenance of the mediation agreed upon between Honduras and Nicaragua on the understanding that for the duration of the present war the Mediation Commission shall only continue the study of the boundary problem and shall abstain from presenting to the Governments of Honduras and Nicaragua in plenary sessions suggestions looking to a definitive settlement of the controversy as envisaged by the terms of the mediation agreement. The Mediation Commission would continue to consider, as it has done in representation of its Governments, any frontier incidents that might arise between Honduras and Nicaragua in contravention of the still valid provisions of the Pact of Mutual Offers, signed on December 10, 1937 at San José, Costa Rica.

In taking this step the mediating Governments are pleased to invoke the spirit of continental solidarity, of which the Government of Honduras has given so many proofs, as well as the promptings of good will for the greater and more assured harmony of the American nations, which are vitally affected by the world war against the aggressor powers.

If the present step of the mediating Governments should come to merit the acceptance of the Government of Honduras, it would be immediately submitted in consultation to the Government of Nicaragua, with confidence that it would be favorably received, in view of the high conciliatory purposes which inspire it.⁸

On this further occasion it is a great pleasure to reiterate etc.

Cordell Hull

2. Transmitted to the Minister in Honduras in instruction No. 1147, February 24, 1943, and presented to the Honduran Minister for Foreign Affairs on March 9.
3. Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. vi, p. 262.
4. The Government of the United States, in association with the Governments of Costa Rica and Venezuela, tendered its good offices to the Governments of Honduras and Nicaragua on October 21. This offer of mediation was formally accepted by Honduras and Nicaragua the following day. See Foreign Relations, 1937, vol. v, pp. 94–95.
5. The labors of the Mediation Commission dated back to November 9, 1937, when the Commission convened formally in San José.
6. The King of Spain, on December 23, 1906, rendered an arbitral Award designating the boundary line between the Republics of Honduras and Nicaragua from the Atlantic to the Pass of Teotecacinte (the remainder of the boundary from the Pass to the Gulf of Fonseca having been definitely accepted by both Governments). For text of the Award, see British and Foreign State Papers, vol. c, p. 1096.
7. Signed at San José; for text, see Foreign Relations, 1937, vol. v, p. 112.
8. In despatch No. 2777, March 9, 1943, the Minister in Honduras informed the Department that the Honduran Foreign Minister anticipated that a study would be made on the subject of this note. The Minister concluded with the advice that the Department should not expect an early reply on this matter. (715.1715/1624)