817.6176/32
The Ambassador in Nicaragua (Stewart) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 1.]
Sir I have the honor to refer to the Department’s instruction no. 814 of August 19, 1943, enclosing a copy of a letter dated August 17, 1943, from Mr. H. J. Corson, Chief of the Mexico and Central American Section of Rubber Development Corporation, to his special representatives in Honduras and Nicaragua, with regard to rubber development activities in the region in dispute between the two countries along the Coco, Wanks or Segovia River; and to other correspondence on the above subject.
Mr. John B. Faust, Second Secretary of the American Embassy in Tegucigalpa, accompanied by Mr. Ernest G. Holt, Special Representative of Rubber Development Corporation in Honduras, arrived in Managua yesterday afternoon. Dr. J. L. Apodaca, Special Representative of Rubber Development Corporation for Nicaragua, was also in Managua, and met with the above two men in my office, with Mr. Cochran25 of my staff. After an extensive discussion both yesterday and today, Messrs. Holt and Apodaca decided to reply to Mr. Corson’s letter in the terms of the two communications enclosed.26 From these, the Department will observe that there is no attempt to decide where the boundary lies, as between the two countries; but that Mr. Holt will confine his operations to the north of the watershed between the Patuca and Coco Rivers, from a point near Teotecacinte, and as he nears the coast, to the Mocorrón River; and Dr. Apodaca will continue to confine his formal operations to the south bank of the Coco River, but will continue to purchase (and to encourage the collection of) rubber produced on the north watershed of that river.
It is believed that these limitations on the operations of Rubber Development Corporation and its contractors, will serve to maintain a safety zone between the two groups of operations, and to avoid any clash or other difficulty which might raise once more the question of [Page 358] the actual boundary, which is in dispute between the two countries. It is hoped that this arrangement will meet with the approval of the Department and of Rubber Development Corporation.27
Respectfully yours,
- William P. Cochran, Consul and Second Secretary of Embassy.↩
- Letter from Mr. Apodaca, September 23, 1943, addressed to Rubber Development Corporation, attention Mr. Corson, and letter from Mr. Holt on the same date to the Rubber Development Corporation; neither printed.↩
- Ambassador Erwin in Honduras received a copy of this despatch and informed the Department in his despatch No. 420, September 28, 1943, that he fully approved of the arrangement outlined by Ambassador Stewart (817.6176/34).↩