Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1944, The American Republics, Volume VII

715.1715/1647

Memorandum by the Director of the Office of American Republic Affairs (Duggan) to the Secretary of State

[Washington,] May 22, 1944.

The Secretary: In 1906, the King of Spain² handed down an arbitral decision in the boundary dispute between Honduras and Nicaragua.³ This decision was formally accepted by Honduras but the Nicaraguan Congress refused to approve it. Since that date, the question has arisen on a number of occasions, in various forms, to affect the relations between the two countries. Several efforts have been made to find a solution—the latest being the Mediation Commission, consisting of Costa Rica, Venezuela and the United States, established in 1937⁴ which, after avoiding threatened armed conflict, has been dormant in recent years.

It is of some urgency to find a definitive solution, as oil may be found in the disputed area; and the present time appears propitious because the two countries are cobelligerents, there is no public agitation of the question, both governments seem stable, and both are under obligation to us.

Consequently, Mr. Bonsal⁵ discussed the matter informally with the Presidents of Honduras and Nicaragua⁶ early this month, hoping to find some method of reaching a final solution. He was somewhat encouraged by the reactions he obtained, and feels that the prospects for success would be greatly improved were you to communicate to both countries your interest in the matter before he visits them again in June. A telegram to Managua in this sense has therefore been drafted for your approval and is attached.⁷ The Foreign Minister of Honduras⁸ is now in the United States for medical treatment; I suggest that he be invited to Washington in the near future, if his health will permit, and that you make the same comments to him orally.

Laurence Duggan

2. Alfonso XIII.
3. Award of December 23, 1906; for text, see British and Foreign State Papers, vol. c, p. 1096.
4. For correspondence concerning the boundary dispute and establishment of the Mediation Commission in 1937, see Foreign Relations, 1937, vol. v, pp. 56 ff.
5. Philip W. Bonsal, Deputy Director of the Office of American Republic Affairs, on missions to several of the Latin American Republics.
6. Mr. Bonsal discussed the matter with President Tiburcio Carías Andino of Honduras on May 5, and with President Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua on May 10, 1944.
7. Telegram 224 to Managua, infra.
8. Silverio Laínez.