817.00/5455: Telegram
The Minister in Nicaragua (Eberhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:09 p.m.]
115. The President stated very definitely to General McCoy and to me this morning that he felt sure that the electoral law would be approved by the Chamber of Deputies. He talked yesterday with eight Conservative Deputies and believes that he has obtained their support. He said that the regular session would terminate Wednesday but that there would be a special session thereafter to pass on the budget and the guardia agreement.35
I insisted that we must have a definite decision one way or the other before the close of the regular session and he authorized me to inform the Department that the law would pass Monday or Tuesday.
Chamorro’s attitude is still uncertain. Until today he had been stating that he and his followers would continue to oppose the law, but this morning he sent word to General McCoy that he would consent to its passage if provisions were inserted assuring the [Page 475] Conservatives fair treatment in the appointment of secretaries of the local electoral boards and providing that any district where order was not restored 6 months before the election would be excluded from the election. Such provisions cannot, of course, be incorporated in the law. Chamorro has already been given ample assurances on the first point. In reply to the second, both Chamorro and the President have been informed that the United States Government was prepared to maintain order throughout the northern provinces.