816.00/1249

The Ambassador in El Salvador (Thurston) to the Secretary of State

No. 1448

Sir: I have the honor to make the following report in amplification of telegram No. 106, dated April 4—3 p.m.9

Monday afternoon, April 3, the Mexican Ambassador10 the Guatemalan,11 Nicaraguan,12 and Costa Rican Ministers,13 and the British14 and Cuban Chargés d’Affaires were assembled in my office at four o’clock for the purpose of discussing the situation created by the revolution then in progress and in particular the efforts of the so-called Revolutionary Junta or Directorate to induce the Diplomatic Corps to make certain representations to General Martínez presumably with a view to an armistice or cessation of hostilities. A representative of the Junta or Directorate, Señor Crescendo Castellanos Rivas, was [Page 1090] present in the Embassy together with a companion named Gavidia (who incidentally took the occasion to deliver to me a telegram from Americans in Santa Ana which he stated had been removed from the body of a person “we have just shot on the street”).

While the Diplomatic Corps was in consultation a tank (one of those furnished the Government of El Salvador by the Government of the United States under Lend-Lease arrangements connected with the protection of the Hemisphere, three of which had been seized by the revolutionists) drove past the Embassy with its guns firing. The firing by the tank was for the purpose of clearing the street. There was no opposition of any kind, and no pursuit of any kind. The tank dominated and could have continued to dominate the entire section of the city in which the Embassy is situated. It turned around a short distance beyond the Embassy and returned, stopping directly in front of the Embassy entrance. After a few moments the turret door of the tank was opened and two officers cautiously emerged and rushed into the Embassy. I went to receive them and the senior officer introduced himself as Colonel Tito Calvo. Assuming that he had presented himself at the Embassy in connection with the negotiations which the revolutionists were seeking to initiate, I brought him into my private office so that the Diplomatic Corps might hear his statements. I also brought in Sr. Castellanos Rivas.

Colonel Calvo, who appeared to be under great nervous strain, stated that in obedience to the will of the majority of the Salvadorans and acting in patriotic good faith he had risen against the Government of General Martínez, but that events had taken the course “which we all knew” and that he had therefore come to the American Embassy to seek asylum. I immediately stated to Colonel Calvo that I could not grant him shelter in view of the fact that the Government of the United States does not recognize the doctrine of asylum.15 Colonel Calvo thereupon appealed in turn to each of the other diplomats present only (and despite the fact that at an earlier meeting in my office the Latin American diplomats had solemnly assured one another that they would grant asylum to applicants from either side in the conflict) to be refused by all. The British Chargé d’Affaires stated that his Government likewise does not subscribe to the practice of asylum.

Shortly thereafter (over half an hour later or perhaps more) a detachment of Government forces appeared at the Embassy and stated to me that they had been informed of the presence of a tank in the street [Page 1091] in front of the Embassy and that with my permission they proposed to seize it. They also inquired as to the whereabouts of the crew of the tank, which they understood had taken shelter in the building. I replied that with respect to the tank, which was in a public highway, I had nothing to say but that with respect to the officers I would not surrender them despite the fact that I could not grant them asylum. I stated that I would report their presence to General Martínez, unless they should elect, as they were at liberty to do, to leave the Embassy before I had done so. The officer with whom I spoke accepted my refusal graciously but added that if Colonel Calvo and his companion should attempt to leave the Embassy they would be dealt with at once. Shortly thereafter another and larger Government force appeared at the Embassy formally requesting the delivery of Colonel Calvo and his companion, with the same result. Colonel Calvo’s tank was examined by members of my staff and found to contain a large stock of shells for its cannon as well as ammunition for its machine guns. Colonel Calvo could have dominated any area through which he might have wished to pass—but he had obviously succumbed to panic. He said, in fact, that he had been leading a procession of trucks filled with reinforcements into the city and upon finding that they had deserted him, and that (for unexplained reasons) he could not reenter the Barracks from which he had departed to get the recruits, he had decided to quit.

At approximately 9 o’clock I accompanied the Diplomatic Corps under escort, to the Police Barracks where we were received by General Martínez. At this interview I informed General Martínez of the situation with respect to Colonel Calvo and the other Salvadorans who were present in my Embassy and after failing to receive assurances that they would if surrendered be treated with clemency I said I would relinquish them under an assurance that they would be given the benefits of the processes of the laws of El Salvador. This assurance was given. Upon my return to the Embassy I found that Sr. Castellanos Rivas had elected to leave (which he evidently had succeeded in doing surreptitiously and successfully) and that while Colonel Calvo and his companion had during the nearly six hours they had spent in the premises given frequent consideration to flight, they had been unable to muster sufficient courage to undertake the venture—being aware of the fact that the entire block was surrounded and heavily guarded. I should add that I had on several occasions clearly explained to Colonel Calvo and his associates the attitude taken by myself and the Diplomatic Corps and that they were at liberty to attempt to flee but if they remained I would be under compulsion to notify the Government of their presence and to relinquish them. Accordingly at about 10:30 on the appearance of a fresh detachment of Government forces bringing a written comumnication [Page 1092] with regard to the persons concerned, I relinquished Colonel Calvo, his companion Lt. Mancía, and the young companion of Castellanos Rivas, Sr. Gavidia—the man who had brought the telegram.

Respectfully yours,

Walter Thurston
  1. Not printed.
  2. Francisco Mora Plancarte.
  3. Francisco E. Toledo.
  4. Juan Marcos López Miranda.
  5. Jorge Loria Matamoros.
  6. Edgar James Joint.
  7. The United States, in signing the conventions adopted at the Sixth International Conference of American States held at Habana January 16–February 20, 1928, took exception to the convention on asylum, placing itself on record as not recognizing or subscribing to, as part of international law, the so-called doctrine of asylum. At the Seventh International Conference of American States held at Montevideo, December 3–26, 1933, the United States again refrained from signing a convention on asylum. See Green H. Hackworth, Digest of International Law (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1941) vol. ii, pp. 646–649.