817.00/5652: Telegram
The Minister in Nicaragua (Eberhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:30 p.m.]
212. The President, who is also president of the Conservative national directorate, announced publicly yesterday that he would not call a meeting of that body to decide which delegates should be admitted to the Conservative National Convention on May 20. The Chamorro faction, which claims to control a majority of the directorate, had urged that a meeting be called to decide contests. The President’s action makes it increasingly probable that two conventions will be held, especially as the Cuadra Pasos faction is now seeking to close the door to any compromise on a third candidate by pointing out that according to the party statutes only a person officially registered as a candidate before April 15th can be nominated. Cuadra Pasos and Rappaccioli are understood to be the only candidates so ranking.
The party statutes apparently make the national directorate the court of last appeal in questions relating to the eligibility of delegates to the departmental conventions but the President takes the position that all such questions should have been decided before the departmental conventions met. The President’s interpretation apparently leaves no method whatever for deciding the dispute by party agencies or in any way except by reference to the National Board of Elections. It is increasingly evident that the administration faction intends to force a decision by the National Board in the belief that the board would at least decide against Chamorro because of the latter’s opposition to our policy and the Department’s reported objections to Rappaccioli.