Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President, Transmitted to Congress December 2, 1895, Part II

Mr. Butler to Mr. Gresham.

Legation of the United States,
Mexico, April 10, 1895. (Received April 17.)

No. 476.]

Sir: I have the honor to submit, in text and translation, the agreement between Mexico and Guatemala, signed on the 1st and published on the 8th instant in the Diario Oficial.

I am, etc.,

E. C. Butler.

[Inclosure in No. 476.—Translation from Diario Oficial, April 8, 1893.]

Agreement between Mexico and Guatemala.

The undersigned, duly authorized thereto, in consequence of the correspondence between them exchanged and the conferences mutually held for the purpose of arranging pacifically and in a manner honorable to Mexico and Guatemala the difficulties caused to both countries by the exercise of acts of sovereignty within the territory lying west of the Lacantun River, have-agreed upon the following articles, to wit:

Article I.

Guatemala hereby declares, as it has hitherto declared, that, believing itself warranted thereto, it exercised acts of sovereignty within the territory lying west of the Lacantun River, and that therefore it has not been its intention in so doing to offend Mexico.

Article II.

Notwithstanding, in the interest of good harmony, the Government of Guatemala, moved thereto by a spirit of equity, agrees to indemnify parties who may have suffered by their agents for the value of the properties occupied or destroyed and for the damages directly occasioned thereto by such occupation or destruction. An arbiter, mutually selected, shall fix the amount of such indemnity.

Article III.

The Government of Mexico desists from its demand relative to the reimbursement of its expenses in connection with the mobilization of troops and other preparations for war, by reason of the occupation of the forests situated to the westward of the Lacantun River by agents of the Guatemalan Government. It likewise desists from its request¹ contained under No. 4 in its note of November 30, last year, as being now unnecessary.

Article IV.

Guatemala consents that Mexico forthwith occupy the territory extending westward from Chixoy and Usumasinta rivers;² while, on its part, Mexico agrees that the true understanding of the boundary treaty of September 27, 1882, is, in the light of most reliable data, that the dividing line between the two countries, with respect to the region embraced between the Chixoy and Pasion rivers, shall be definitely fixed as the parallel of latitude which, as determined in said treaty, passes a point “4 kilometers beyond” the Ixbul Hill; thence eastward to the Chixoy River, where, as Guatemala has sustained, it terminates; following the center of the deepest channel of the Chixoy River, and then that of the Usumasinta, to the parallel 25 kilometers south of Tenosique, Tabasco, as measured from the plaza (center square) of said town.

Article V.

Both parties accept the average of the differences in the rest of the boundary limits outlined by boundary commissions, i. e., from the intersection of the Usumasinta with the second of the said parallels onward, as the boundary line is described in the treaty, provided such differences do not exceed 200 meters. In contrary event, the line shall be corrected as per agreement of the scientific commissions appointed under article 4 of the said treaty. In case these commissions do not agree, the question shall be submitted to an arbiter.

Article VI.

The geographical position of the Chixoy and Usumasinta rivers shall be fixed as follows: The Chixoy from its intersection with the first-mentioned parallel referred to in Article IV of this agreement until it enters the Pasion River to form the Usumasinta; and the position of the Usumasinta from such point of junction until it touches the second-mentioned parallel; furthermore, the boundary monuments lacking shall be set up; all in accordance with the protocol to the agreement entered into on September 14, 1883, between Messrs. José Fernandez and Manuel Herdera.

Article VII.

This agreement shall be submitted to the approval of the Senate of the United States of Mexico and of the National Legislative Assembly of Guatemala, while it may forthwith be published in the official journals of both Governments. The exchange of ratifications shall be effected in the City of Mexico, on or before the 31st of May ensuing.

Done and signed, in duplicate, in the City of Mexico, this 1st day of April, 1895.

• Ignacio Mariscal.
• Emilio de Leon.

1. The request was for the dismissal of the engineer Miles Rock from the service of Guatemala; this Guatemala had already done, as is shown by the correspondence leading up to this agreement.
2. Territory which the treaty of 1882 assigned to Mexico, and which Guatemala has claimed pending the definite fixing of the boundary line by the engineers.