814.00/327: Telegram
The Chargé in Guatemala ( Scotten ) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 2, 1920, 1 a.m.]
5. Luis P. Aguirre, the head of a newly formed political party, called at the Legation this evening and handed me a printed pamphlet a translation of which follows. He was in a state of the greatest agitation and expressed considerable fear for his life when the activities of the new party shall become known. He stated that more copies of the pamphlet in question will be printed secretly tonight and distributed tomorrow and that telegrams would be sent tonight to the Presidents of the other Central American States. He claims that the party will operate under the law and is not to be considered as a revolutionary party. Translation follows.
Unionist Party
act of organization
Considering that the centennial of the political emancipation of Central America is approaching and that it is a patriotic duty to [Page 270] strive in order that upon that date the world may behold united the fatherland to which our ancestors brought us;
That this noble sentiment is burning in the hearts of all the good sons of the five Central American States;
That the second article of the Constitution in force at present authorizes the reassembling of such a great ideal;
[The] undersigned on our own behalf and on the behalf of those who have manifested to us their desire to see the same aspirations converted into acts
Have decided, using the right which the Carta Fundamental grants us in the twenty fifth number [article], to constitute ourselves in a political party with the following ends in view:
- (1)
- To dedicate all our forces to obtain by pacific means and with the strictest obedience to the laws, the immediate but stable, just, popular revival of the ancient Central American Nation.
- (2)
- To begin an active propaganda in order that the existing laws governing both the transcendental principles and the monetary system may be harmonized in the five republics; in order that free commerce may be agreed upon between them and that their means of communication may be bettered and multiplied; in order that past differences may be blotted out; and in order that everything possible may be done which may tend to bring about an approximation between peoples and their governments.
- (3)
- To strive within the limits of established law in order that the carrying out of the laws and the accomplishments of the obligations which the republican and democratic form of government requires to be efficient both on the part of the authorities and the citizens may be effective and sincere, because the union would be impossible in any other manner.
The association will be named “Unionist Party”.
Its acts will be public and not in favor of individuals but of ideals.
A newspaper, the organ of the party, will make known the labors which are undertaken, the agreements which are arrived at and the adhesions received.
Clubs which shall be a part of the association will be established in the Departmental capitals and the communities of importance.
These headquarters will place themselves in communication with similar ones which exist in Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, in order to coordinate all the efforts which relate to the common ideal.
The Unionist Party invites all those citizens who love the country, without distinction of political opinions or religious creeds, to unite themselves with it and keep on in unison for the great cause.
Copies of the present act will be sent to the Minister of Gobernacion and Justice and to the International Central American Office.
The names of the organizing commission follow comprising 32 names.