File No. 816.00/155.

The American Minister to Salvador to the Secretary of State.

Sir: Referring to my despatch of the 7th instant, and also to my telegram of yesterday, 2 p.m., I have the honor to transmit herewith copies of telegrams and letters1 addressed to President Araujo by departmental commanders stationed along the frontier, which copies the President has sent to me for my information and for submission to the Department of State in further proof of the continued and increased military activities of the President of Guatemala directed against the Republic of Salvador. I also inclose a translation of these letters and telegrams, which show that along the frontier Guatemalan officials, by the orders of their superiors, prohibit anyone from Salvador to cross the border into Guatemala; that Dr. Prudencio Alfaro, with Salvadoran political emigrados, is at a point near the frontier, on Guatemalan soil, ready to invade Salvador; that President Estrada Cabrera halts at nothing to disturb the peace of this country; that the Guatemalan General Cuellar has gone to Ocotepeque, Honduras, to confer with the Honduran General Arita regarding the operations that are to be put into effect after Gen. Manuel Bonilla has assumed the presidency of Honduras on the 1st of February next; that Estrada Cabrera will establish a headquarters at Santa Barbara, Honduras, [Page 1320] as a base of operations, with which object there are being constructed wagon roads from the frontier of Guatemala to Santa Barbara, to be used in the transportation of the necessary elements of war for delivery to General Barahona and Dr. Alfaro, both of whom are disaffected Salvadorans and leaders of Salvadoran political emigrados; that the telegraph lines used by Guatemala in the last war between that country and Salvador are being reestablished; that General Aritas has asserted that Estrada Cabrera has offered him a ministry on the realization of the Central American union; that Estrada Cabrera has made a similar offer “to the commandant at Santa Rosa, through the medium of the commandant at Santa Barbara, Rafael Cobar, a Guatemalan, who a short time ago was in Santa Rosa conferring with or, rather, giving orders to Reina from his master, Estrada Cabrera”; that spies have been sent to Salvador from Guatemala, some of whom are women; that there is a movement of many, people from various directions to Ocotepeque, Honduras, most of whom are partisans of Dr. Alfaro and friends; that on the 3d instant 200 armed men entered Ocotepeque from Guatemala; and, finally, that active recruiting of men for the army against Salvador, and their departure for the southern frontier, is now a daily occurrence in Guatemala.

President Araujo, accompanied by Dr. Castro Ramírez, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, called upon me this afternoon in order, as he said, to speak with me personally concerning the situation on the Guatemalan-Salvadoran frontier and to tell me that he is in hourly receipt of telegrams in substance similar to those of which lie has sent me copies.

During the conversation with President Araujo I asked him to tell me the possible reason, if any, which Estrado Cabrera could have for his bellicose attitude toward the Republic of Salvador, and he replied that his Government had never, at any time, given the President of Guatemala the slightest reason for his strange actions, but that it is known that Estrada Cabrera’s plan is to proclaim himself dictator, or president, of all Central America, and to accomplish this Estrada Cabrera aims to subjugate the Republic of Salvador in order that he may be in control of these Republics (since he has already entered into arrangements with Gen. Manual Bonilla to acquire control over Honduras at an appropriate time after Bonilla has assumed the presidency of that country). Then, after the conquest of Salvador, Estrada Cabrera’s intention is to vanquish Costa Rica, which he counts upon to join the union necessarily and without resistance, as that country is a nonmilitary State; and after that Nicaragua would also be forced into the union. President Araujo added that if Estrada Cabrera thought that in this grotesque manner he could bring about a union of the Central American Republics he was greatly mistaken, and that as the result of such an attempt there would rest upon his shoulders the responsibility for the most sanguinary conflict that these already unhappy countries have ever seen, since there is not a man, woman, or child in Central America who would submit to the rule of Estrada Cabrera, a man who is terrorizing every corner of these countries and who is looked upon as being infinitely more unscrupulous and unprincipled than ex-President Zelaya. This, then, the President added, is the plan of [Page 1321] Estrada Cabrara—to satisfy a morbid and a blind personal ambition in order to constitute himself the only ruler over entire Central America, by whatever means and at whatever cost. Continuing, President Araujo stated to me that he did not stand in fear of an attack on Salvador by the forces of Guatemala; that, if necessary, he could mobilize 28,000 troops within 48 hours, and that Salvador would surely vanquish Guatemala in a contest at arms; that in about 20 days there would arrive here from Germany a large consignment of arms and ammunition, valued at $100,000 gold, although Salvador was not actually lacking in elements of war; and the President concluded by saying that his heart’s desire was the peace of Central America, law and order, and the possession of the respect of the Government of the United States, whose moral support, in the event of a war with Guatemala, he hoped would not be withheld, as he felt that Salvador was being unjustifiably forced into such a conflict. I assured the President that the greatest wish of the Government of the United States was to see the peoples of Central America live in perfect harmony with one another. He replied that he had had abundant evidence of this fact and that he had every faith in the disinterestedness of our Government toward all Central America, but that harmony could never be realized so long as the malign power of Estrada Cabrera prevailed, since his intrigues were deep, far reaching, and never ending. The President also said, as an additional proof of the treachery and deception of Estrada Cabrera, that at this moment, while the President of Guatemala is spending thousands upon thousands of dollars in arming Dr. Pruclencio Alfaro and his disaffected followers, the Salvadoran political emigrados in the territory of Guatemala, extraordinary and exceptional honors are being showered upon the special envoy who was sent to Guatemala to render the thanks of the Government of Salvador for Guatemala’s special mission to the centennial celebration at this capital in the early part of last November. President Araujo qualified these inconsistencies as the refinement of absolute perfidy and duplicity on the part of Estrada Cabrera.

I have [etc.]

William Heimke.
  1. Not printed.