File No. 816.00/146.
My reception by the President took place on the 29th ultimo. In order to
avoid the possibility in the future of any asseverations that
[Page 1312]
the Department’s position
had been misunderstood I prepared an aide-mémoire which I handed to the
President, and of which I have the honor to inclose a copy. This was
accompanied by an unofficial translation into Spanish, of which I also
have the honor to inclose a copy, in order that the President might
examine it without delay.
After reading the Spanish text with apparent attention the President
stated that he awaited the outcome without anxiety (espero tranquilo)
and would take up the points made in order. I hereupon suggested that if
he had no objection he should furnish me with some form of written
statement in order that I might communicate to my Government exactly
that which he wished. He replied that he thanked me for this courtesy,
as it would allow him time to put his remarks in proper form, but that
he desired as well to reply to my aide-mémoire at once.
I took this course in the hope that the President’s written statement
might be more useful to the Department than a mere report of a
conversation, the accuracy of which might be questioned.
The President spoke for some time, the substance of his remarks being
contained in the inclosed copy of a memorandum of conversation.1
The President’s memorandum, accompanied by an English translation, is
also inclosed herewith. * * *
[Inclosure 1.—Aide Mémoire.]
The American Minister
to the President of
Guatemala.
The American Minister had the honor to inform His Excellency the
President of Guatemala that the former had received instructions
from his Government to make certain communications to His
Excellency. The communications in question are as follows:
In September last the Government of the United States received
information that the President of Guatemala, having previously given
secret aid to the Manuel Bonilla revolutionists movement against the
Dávila Government in Honduras, was actively supporting General
Bonilla for the presidency of that country under an agreement by
which, after the elections of October 29 in Honduras, the two
statesmen would undertake to lend assistance in the subversion of
the Governments of Salvador and Nicaragua by disaffected elements in
those two countries, the ultimate aim being, it is alleged, to place
the President of Guatemala in a dominating position in those
Republics.
Thereafter the Department of State at Washington received
corroborative information that Prudencio Alfaro, a Salvadoran
revolutionist, was in Guatemala near the capital in frequent
communication with the President of Guatemala; that Guatemalan
troops were being mobilized on the Salvadoran frontier; that cart
roads were being constructed and telegraph and telephone offices
opened at strategic points along the border for the entry of
Salvadoran emigrados from Guatemala and Honduras; that unusually
large shipments of military supplies were being received; that mules
and elements of war were being sent from Chiquimula in Guatemala to
Ocotepeque in Honduras; that certain vessels notably the Emma and Siren, used
in the recent revolution against the Dávila Government, were being
overhauled and put into commission by Guatemala and Honduras,
respectively; that complaints were being made by Guatemala and
Honduras of violation by Salvador of the Washington Conventions for
the purpose
[Page 1313]
on the
complainants part of securing the arrest of Honduran emigrados in
Salvador who might otherwise interfere with the plans of the
President of Guatemala and General Manuel Bonilla; and, finally,
that other incidents, unimportant in themselves, if taken in
connection with the above matters indicated the existence of a
well-laid plan for a joint attack from Guatemalan and Honduran
territory against the Government of Salvador, which as far as the
State Department knows is giving a peaceful and orderly
administration of affairs in that Republic satisfactory to the
majority of its people.
The Government of the United States has also received from time to
time, information of counter movements to bring about the subversion
of the Governments of Guatemala and Honduras, respectively, and the
Department of State has accordingly taken such precautions in aid of
the constituted Governments in those two Republics as seemed
necessary to secure a proper observance and enforcement of the
so-called neutrality statutes of the United States and in addition
thereto, for the purpose of carrying out the spirit of the
Washington Conventions in which the Government of the United States
has a deep interest although not a signatory thereof, it has
exercised its good offices on the request of the Government of
Guatemala and the other signatories in an impartial manner in
bringing to the attention of the Governments concerned the charges
of violation of the Conventions, and has informally suggested the
advisability of submitting their various contentions to the Central
American Court of Justice at Cartago.
Reports have now reached the Department of State at Washington that
the consistent record of the Government of the United States in
respect of the recognition of constituted authority in Guatemala,
the exercise of its good offices on behalf of Guatemala in the
maintenance of the neutrality provisions of the Washington
Conventions, and its oft expressed friendship for the people of
Guatemala have been taken advantage of so as to create a totally
false impression that the United States is in sympathy with the
President of Guatemala, if not secretly supporting him, in his
alleged designs against the other Governments of Central
America.
The Department of State has not the means, even if it had the
inclination, to determine the merits of the charges made by
Guatemala and Honduras against Salvador and the countercharges
preferred by the latter. In order, however, that there may be no
misconception in Central America or elsewhere and no
misunderstanding by the signatories of the Washington Conventions,
of the strictly impartial attitude of the United States, the
Department of State has in contemplation, in the event the hostile
movement against the Government of Salvador does not cease, the
giving of publicity to all the information on the subject at its
disposal, together with an official announcement of the policy of
the Government of the United States.
Legation of the United States of
America,
Guatemala, December 29, 1911.
[Inclosure
2.—Memorandum.—Translation.]
The President of
Guatemala to the American
Minister.
The President of Guatemala has given due consideration and attention
to the memorandum dated the 29th of the present month which his
excellency the Minister of the United States of America was pleased
to hand to him, and in reply, taking up in order the points
contained in the said document, states:
The Government of Guatemala does not conceal the fact that it viewed
with pleasure the candidacy of Gen. Manuel Bonilla for the
presidency of Honduras, believing that, on account of the prestige
which he enjoys among his compatriots, the return to power of this
leader may bring to an end the state of anarchy which reigned in
Honduras, thus suppressing the dangers, entailed by this abnormal
situation, to the peace of Central America, and especially of
Guatemala, its immediate neighbor, with which country its frontiers
are extensive.
The Government of Guatemala does deny, in the most absolute manner,
that any agreement tending to the subversion of order or to
provoking changes in the administration in the bordering Republic
existed between its head and the
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leader of the Honduran revolution. The
Government is obliged to confine itself to this comprehensive denial
until the existence of the alleged agreement, can be shown to exist
in some tangible form, or at least until the interested parties can
show the existence of valid motives which might induce an orderly
government, such as that of Guatemala, to take part in a movement
certain to bring about a conflagration in Central America.
The unfounded allegation that such proceedings had as an object the
placing of the President of Guatemala in a dominant position in
Central America falls to the ground when the international conduct
which he has observed throughout all his administration is taken
into consideration, and in view of the fact that there has not
existed in Central America a factor for order and peace more decided
and more constant than the Government over which he presides.
It is completely false that Prudencio Alfaro has been in this
Republic, and still more, in the event that that were possible, that
he could have been in frequent communication with the President of
Guatemala. Neither is Alfaro a friend of my Government, nor would it
in any case have supplied him with the elements to attack the
established order in Salvador, an order which the Government of
Guatemala respects and considers as emanating from the popular
will.
The charges that roads have been repaired, that telegraph and
telephone lines have been established, and that the elements of war
which were necessary for the maintenance of order in the country
have been collected, seem to be and are strange; this has not been
limited in particular to the Departments bordering on Salvador, as
may be shown at any time, nor does it constitute a motive for
suspicion on the part of any country; it is the result of that
condition of progress and welfare which happily, thanks to peace,
the Republic has attained during the past years, and involves the
exercise of rights of sovereignty which, as long as they are not
directed against anyone through hostile motives, there is no right
or reason to censure. In Salvador, for example, military
institutions are being improved, instructors are being brought from
Europe, the army is being disciplined and perfected, all the arms
which the country needs are being acquired, and the Government of
Guatemala, instead of complaining of this worthy progress, applauds
it and rejoices therein with that sincerity and good will with which
it would view the progress and prosperity of a brother.
Besides the patrols which are ordinarily maintained to preserve order
on the frontier, where smugglers and ordinary criminals find refuge,
owing to its nature, the Government of Guatemala has not moved a
single man toward Salvador. The President of Guatemala would be
greatly pleased, in order to have this assertion fully proved, if
one of the honorable consular representatives of the United States
would visit those regions, in order that lie may be convinced by
ocular proof of the lack of foundation for the gratuitous charges
which are made in this respect.
It is deplorable that even the most natural acts, such as the
repairing of the ship Emma, should be
willfully misconstrued and an importance attributed to them which
they do not possess; but it is even worse when it is imputed that we
are in possession of vessels, such as the Siren, of which we have no cognizance.
In that which refers to the emigrados, the Government of Guatemala
has evinced its good faith in the fulfillment of the Washington
conventions to such an extent that when a few months ago the
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Salvador asked by telegraph for the
concentration of certain of his compatriots, resident on the
Guatemala frontier, they were immediately brought to the capital,
notwithstanding the fact that these persons were proprietors of
plantations in that district, the result of which was, as may be
proved, an expression to us of effusive thanks of the Government of
Dr. Araujo. If the Government of Honduras has not obtained from the
Government of Salvador the same results under analogous conditions,
this is not the affair of Guatemala.
The good will of the Government of Guatemala toward that of Salvador
has not been confined to this incident alone. We have even, at her
request, suppressed the sale of liquors which existed in the border
zone, in order to avoid the existence of conditions that might lead
to disorder; nor did the Guatemalan administration stop to consider
that this measure might bring, as it has brought, great losses to
the public treasury.
In the memorandum to which this one refers the allusion was made to
well-laid plans for a joint attack from Guatemala and Honduras
against the Government
[Page 1315]
of Salvador. In this respect the President of Guatemala can only
express the wish that concrete evidence be furnished, a reasonable
indication that such a combination has existed or does exist, as
otherwise, against unfounded assurances, the only course left open
is that which is now taken, namely, categorical denial.
The Government of Guatemala expresses its gratitude that the
Government of the United States of America, although not a signatory
to the Washington conventions, has zealously watched over their
observance, maintaining the strictest neutrality as to the Central
American internal questions and interposing its good offices to the
end that such difficulties as may have arise!! between the
Governments of the Isthmus be submitted to the Central American
Court of Justice, established at Cartago, and furthermore states
with pleasure that the Government of Guatemala has been and will
continue to be the faithful supporter of these conventions, wherein
it sees with reason the basis for concord and harmony between the
nations of Central America, and adds that whatever suggestions may
have been made to it to weaken, not alone the treaties but
institutions derived therefrom, have been and will always be
unavailing and fruitless.
Ambitious persons without license, enemies of every system of order
and industry, have circulated reports that the Government of
Guatemala intends to bring about by force the union of Central
America. To destroy such a ridiculous charge the President of
Guatemala here recalls the fact that his delegates to the Washington
convention, faithfully interpreting his instructions, maintained
that the union could not and ought not to be realized except with
the mutual consent of the interested peoples, for the very reason
that it was the supreme aspiration of Central American patriotism,
and that when the momentary clouds were dissipated this great
benefit could be obtained by the union of interests and the fusing
of ideals.
The cordiality of the relations which happily exist between the
United of America and the Republic of Guatemala, and which the
President of this last nation endeavors carefully to cultivate and
to strengthen, has aroused in certain elements, hostile to the
Government of Guatemala, the most profound hatred, which has found
echo in the Mexican press and in that of the various sections of
Central America by the publication of malicious articles, wherein it
is endeavored to give the impression that the Guatemalan President
boasted of the friendship of the United States as a means of
realizing his selfish and illegal plans. Nothing could be more false
and malevolent, although, indeed, the Government of Guatemala takes
pleasure in maintaining the closest bonds with the great and
powerful American people, following in this regard its historical
antecedents and its present earnest desires; yet if will never take
advantage of those bonds and sympathies as a shield or mask to
justify or explain unlawful acts or reprehensible purposes. The
recognized probity and rectitude of the Government of Guatemala and
the very high consideration which it professes toward the noble and
friendly nation which has given to the people of Guatemala so many
and such oft-repeated proofs of consideration and friendship
disproves this.
This memorandum would not be complete if it did not establish the
fact that the persons who so evilly impose on the good faith of the
Government of Salvador, whose sincerity the Government of Guatemala
never doubts, are unquestionably enemies of both administrations,
since they hinder the good understanding between friendly countries
and create suspicion and mistrust, which state of affairs can only
bring profit to the disturbers of the peace in the most unhappy
event, which will not arrive, that some day peace and concord, which
should reign between both countries, be broken.
The President of Guatemala expects without anxiety that deeds,
infinitely more eloquent and persuasive than words, will in the near
future convince the President of Salvador that instead of having in
the Government of Guatemala a hostile and adverse force he may count
upon it for everything that contributes to peace, progress, and the
happiness of the peoples who have confided to him their
destinies.
Guatemala,
December 30,
1911.
