Office of the Historian

740.00111 A.R.–Subs/10

The Minister in Guatemala (Des Portes) to the Secretary of State

No. 1312
Guatemala, June 19, 1940.
[Received June 24.]

Sir: With reference to the Department’s circular telegram of June 13, 8 p.m., and to the Legation’s reply thereto No. 53, June 18, 11 a.m.,23 I have the honor to enclose herewith a copy and translation of the Decree signed by President Ubico on June 17,24 by which the entrance of belligerent submarines into Guatemalan territorial waters is forbidden.

The Department will note that the Decree declares Guatemalan territorial waters to extend twelve sea miles from the low tide mark and to include the Bay of Amatique.

When I discussed this matter with the Foreign Minister,25 in accordance with the Department’s instructions he stated that the recommendation of the Inter-American Neutrality Committee had not been received by the Guatemalan Government, but he later informed me by telephone that he had been mistaken in making this statement. From the comments made to me by the Foreign Minister, it was quite evident that the Guatemalan Government gladly acceded to the Department’s initiative.

Respectfully yours,

Fay Allen Des Portes
  1. Latter not printed.↩
  2. For text of Decree No. 2393, June 17, 1940, see Pan American Union, Law and Treaty Series No. 14, p. 21.↩
  3. Carlos Salazar.↩