File No. 816.00/156.

The American Minister to Guatemala to the Secretary of State.

[Extract.]
No. 206.]

Sir: With reference to your telegram of January 11, 12 noon, and Mr. Heimkè’s telegram repeating to me his telegram to the Department of January 10, 2 p.m., I have the honor to inform you that I immediately endeavored to see the Salvadoran Chargé d’Affaires, Dr. Lima, in order to ascertain whether he possessed any supplementary information on the subject before asking an interview of the President of Guatemala.

In the afternoon I received a telephone message from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who desired to see me and with whom I made an appointment for the following morning, the 13th instant, at 10 o’clock.

Dr. Toledo Herrarte had been sent by the President * * * to reiterate in the most forcible manner the assurances previously given by the President that no hostile preparations against Salvador existed. The Minister stated, in addition to the denials as to military preparations, that nothing could be more unfortunate at this moment than these unfounded accusations of bellicose intentions, as they greatly embarrassed the President in his negotiations for the financial rehabilitation of the country, to which he was devoting his best efforts and hoped soon to reach a solution.

The Minister adverted to the President’s request, contained in his memorandum,1 that an American consular officer might by personal inspection satisfy himself of the absence of all unusual military preparation along the Salvadoran frontier. I pointed out that a consular officer could scarcely be considered to be a competent judge of military questions, whereupon the military attaché of this Legation was suggested. I replied that I was not willing to assume for this Legation the responsibility of determining whether the alleged military preparations did or did not exist; that it seemed to me a question of convincing the President of Salvador of a matter of fact and that if Salvadorans were given facilities for making an inspection I [Page 1323] should be willing, with your approval, to have the military attaché and a consular official accompany them, it being clearly understood that their report should be confined to a statement of the conditions found to exist at the various points at the moment the inspection was made and that there should be only one report, to be signed by all, with such reservations as individual members cared to add. The Minister immediately stated that his Government would afford every facility to such an informal party, relying upon the personal character of its members to remove the anxiety of the President of Salvador, and that he would consider himself indebted to this Legation if it could arrange the matter, I stated that I would suggest it to the Salvadoran Chargé d’Affaires.

After this interview I saw the Chargé d’Affaires of Salvador and communicated to him the substance of my telegraphic instructions and, further, allowed him to read my aide-mémoire and the President’s memorandum in reply, which accompanied my despatch of the 2d instant. Dr. Lima stated that ail the Salvadoran emigrados were concentrated in this capital, that he knew of no hostile preparations along the frontier adjoining Salvador, and that he did not believe that the information which seemed to have reached Dr. Araujo was correct. I explained to him the proposal for an inspection of the frontier, which he stated that he considered an excellent plan for dispelling the apparently false ideas entertained at San Salvador, and said that he would telegraph his Government to request authority to accept it.

I thereupon sent you my telegram dated January 13, 4 p.m.,1 and requested an interview with the President, which was immediately accorded at 4 o’clock. The President had been advised of the conversation which took place during my interview with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and I informed him that the Salvadoran Chargé d’Affaires had telegraphed his Government for authority to send the party of inspection along the border. The President renewed his previous statements as to the absence of all unusual activity in this locality or any hostile actions against the Government of Dr. Araujo. Your telegram of January 12, 4 p.m., having meanwhile reached me, I communicated its contents to the President, who stated that he would telegraph at once with a view to securing the arrest and conduct to this capital of Alonzo (there does not appear to be any political character of the name of Lino A.) Barahona and Prudencio Alfaro, adding that he desired me to note that he would despatch for this purpose a patrol of 40 men, and that he hoped I would bear witness to its character in case this were misunderstood by Salvador.

With regard to the moves against Salvador, my impression is that reports reached here during the centennial celebrations in San Salvador which led President Estrada Cabera to believe that a movement for a Central American union, in which Salvador would take the prominent part, was not an impossibility, and there is evidence that he collected a large number of men which he would doubtless have used in the event of any plan for union which did not reckon upon him as an essential factor; it, however, seems probable that the complaints of Salvador and the subsequent developments have caused [Page 1324] him to withdraw everything in excess of the normal military preparations along the frontier, which would explain his urgent requests that the frontier be inspected to prove the truth and good faith of his assurances in this sense.

It has seemed to me throughout this matter of attacks against Salvador that if President Estrada Cabrera was working to subvert the Government of that country he would do so either by promoting a revolutionary movement or sending aid into Honduras, where it is here thought that General Bonilla will do whatever President Estrada Cabrera wishes, in either of which cases he would be in a position to pretend that he had had nothing to do with the matter, a course which would manifestly be closed to him if a direct invasion took place.

I mention the foregoing impressions with reserve, as the Department is aware of the extreme difficulty of securing in this capital reliable information as to the activities of the President when he desires to conceal them.

I have [etc.]

R. S. Reynolds Hitt.
  1. The inclosure in the Minister’s dispatch of January 2, ante.
  2. Not printed.