816.01/355: Telegram
The Minister in Nicaragua (Lane) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received January 12—11:25 a.m.]
6. My 4, January 10, 5 p.m. When I called on the President this morning he showed me a rough draft of an agreement, a protocol which he proposed to submit through a confidential representative first to the President of Salvador and then to Presidents of Honduras and Guatemala. Costa Rica having recognized Salvador and having officially since confirmed a letter of December 23, 1932, from Minister of Foreign Affairs to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua, that it favored the calling of a conference for revision of treaty of 1923, the approval of the Government of Costa Rica would not in President Sacasa’s opinion seem necessary at the outset although he stated he would advise that Government later as a matter of courtesy.
This evening subsequent to my telephone conversation with Assistant Secretary Welles I had a further conference with the President and told him that his proposed agreement with certain changes (to which he acquiesced) met with our approval in principle and that his representative was at liberty to advise the other interested Governments, orally and confidentially, that President Sacasa’s proposal has our approval and that we are prepared to recognize present Government of Salvador as soon as recognition is accorded by Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
The President’s proposed agreement, as amended at an interview this evening, which he emphasized was roughly drawn is substantially as follows (obviously the language is imperfect in several instances from a legal point of view but I considered it wise to refrain from objecting as long as the principle were obtained):
“In view of the fact that the General Treaty of Peace and Amity is in full force with respect to Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua and that having been denounced by El Salvador and Costa Rica has ceased to be in effect with respect to relations between the first three and the last two, and it being of the greatest importance for the peace of Central America that the Treaty be revised, the following is agreed upon to be published:
- 1.
- The Governments of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua shall immediately recognize the Government of El Salvador over which General Martínez presides.
- 2.
- The Governments of Central America shall accredit representatives to the conference which will take place for the purpose indicated.”
The President said that his present intention would be to send as his representative his cousin Senator Crisanto Sacasa Saturday morning by airplane to San Salvador and thence to Guatemala and Tegucigalpa. He promised to keep me advised of developments.