817.00/5097: Telegram
The Chargé in Nicaragua (Munro) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11 p.m.]
295. As General McCoy has doubtless informed the Department, conditions on the east coast, which have been very bad for many years, seem to be worse at present because of the increased bitterness between the political parties and the complete disorganization of the administration. It is extremely difficult to get adequate information here but it seems clear that the Liberal jefe politico and the Conservative lower officials in Bluefields cannot work together and that the Liberal revolutionary appointees who have been left in office in many of the smaller places in accordance with Admiral Latimer’s recommendation receive no money or support from Managua and pay no attention to the Government’s orders. There is much discontent and some disorder. In two recent cases where the Legation has complained of mistreatment of American citizens, the Government has replied that it cannot control the local Liberal authorities and therefore can take no effective action.
President Diaz has for some time wished to remedy this situation. To this end he proposed last month to Mr. Eberhardt that ex-President Estrada who was then temporarily acting as jefe politico at Bluefields be permanently appointed with full control over all other officials including the power to appoint and dismiss. Mr. Eberhardt favored this but Moncada refused to agree saying that Estrada though a Liberal was not well regarded by the party because of his leadership in the revolution against Zelaya.15 The President is not willing to entrust the same power to Pasos who was appointed jefe politico at Moncada’s nomination as latter would be certain to use such power for partisan purposes. I am told that Estrada is well liked by both parties on the coast and that his recent administration gave general satisfaction. It seems probable that his appointment under the conditions suggested would help to improve the situation. He is a personal friend both of Diaz and of Moncada and [Page 404] the latter’s objection to him seems to be purely political. It would be unfortunate to lose this opportunity to improve conditions on the east coast merely because Moncada wishes to use the appointment of the jefe politico there to build up his own personal political machine and it has occurred to me that the Department might be able to influence Moncada to change his position. The Department might well state that it could no longer object to the appointment of Conservative subordinate officials at those places on the coast where Liberals are still in office if the proposed arrangement were not accepted. I know of no reason why the Government should be obliged to maintain Liberals in any positions except that of jefe politico.
I did not take up this matter myself with Moncada before his departure because I did not then have enough information about conditions on the coast. The above recommendations are based on information received from the American consul at Bluefields whose report of October 13th the Department has doubtless received,16 from the marines, and from the Bluefields representative of the Cuyamel Fruit Company.
- See Foreign Relations, 1910, pp. 738 ff.↩
- Not printed.↩