715.1715/782: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Nicaragua (Castleman)54
74. Your 154, October 24, 9 p.m.55 Please advise the Minister of Foreign Affairs that the Governments of Costa Rica, Venezuela, and [Page 100] the United States are in entire accord that both the Governments of Nicaragua and of Honduras should appoint as their representatives at the forthcoming negotiations as many delegates as they respectively consider desirable. For purposes of convenience, it is hoped that neither Government will appoint more than two or three delegates to represent it.
With regard to the meeting place for the first sessions, this Government feels sure that the Minister of Foreign Affairs will recognize that the selection of a capital adjacent to the territory in dispute is eminently desirable in order that the representatives of the governments tendering their good offices may visit the territory with facility and with dispatch, and may likewise from time to time visit the capitals of the two Republics involved in the controversy. You should make it clear that it is the opinion of this Government, as it is that of the Governments of Costa Rica and of Venezuela, that the negotiations resulting from the tender of good offices may be divided into two distinct stages, namely, the first for the purpose of suggesting measures to relieve the existing state of tension so that all danger of further friction may be removed, and the second, the period during which the governments tendering their good offices will offer suggestions for a means of finding a definitive solution of the controversy. This second stage of the negotiations may, of course, take place in some capital remote from the Republics of Central America, where a completely neutral atmosphere may be obtained and where the representatives of all of the countries taking part in the negotiations may meet without fear of pressure on public opinion from the press or from the radio. For that reason, this Government believes that San José is the most logical and the most convenient meeting place for the representatives of the five republics during the first stage of the negotiations, and would suggest that Caracas might well be a desirable and convenient capital to be selected for the second stage of the negotiations.
For the reasons above set forth, this Government earnestly hopes that the Government of Nicaragua will conclude that the first meeting should take place in San José on November 1st, as already tentatively suggested.
The Department desires that you discourage the Government of Nicaragua from continuing to urge Washington as the seat of the negotiations. For reasons of policy it is deemed undesirable that Central American controversies be brought to Washington for solution. This Government will gladly cooperate in every practicable manner in facilitating the pacific solution of controversies of this character, but desires to avoid the impression created in the past that Central American disputes are solved by the United States.
[Page 101]Please telegraph immediately the answer which may be made to you by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.