713.1311/309: Telegram
The Minister in Guatemala (Hanna) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 22—5:11 p.m.]
34. Article 14 of the draft treaty presented to the Conference by the Honduran delegation reads as follows:
“Arbitration shall be the only method for settling conflicts which may arise between the Central American states. They shall observe and fulfill with all their authority and efficacy the arbitral decisions which terminate controversies.”
When the subject of arbitration came up in the Conference yesterday the Honduran delegation proposed that any agreement for compliance with arbitral decisions should apply to existing arbitral decisions. The Nicaraguan delegation objected insofar as this might apply to the award of the King of Spain in the Nicaraguan-Honduran boundary dispute. The debate on this point became acrimonious between the two delegations mentioned and was terminated by the president of the Conference adjourning the session. Subsequently a telegram was sent to the President of Honduras suggesting that he might give his delegation instructions which would terminate the controversy. Pending his reply an excursion to Antigua was arranged for the delegation today.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs has just given me the foregoing information. He expressed the opinion that compliance with the proposal of the Honduran delegation would be equivalent to converting the Conference itself into a court for the settlement of the Nicaraguan-Honduran boundary controversy, and that the proposal did not have the support of the other delegations.
Repeated to Honduras and by air mail to other Central American missions.