. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[Enclosure—Circular
telegram—Translation36]
The Salvadoran Minister of Foreign
Affairs (Paredes) to the
Costa Rican, Guatemalan, Honduran, and
Nicaraguan Ministers of Foreign
Affairs
San Salvador, June 24, 1920.
Mr. Minister: Since March 1918, when
the legal life of the Central American Court of Justice
terminated by virtue of the expiration of the term of 10 years
for which it was established as an institution of peace and a
high exponent of the principle of arbitration, nothing practical
has been done to restore it to the juridical international
existence that shed so much credit and lustre on Central
America.
Some initiatives have been taken by the various chancelleries of
the isthmus and the Central American International Bureau, but
they have not prospered, owing, perhaps, to abnormal
circumstances, for which the course of events is
responsible.
The cessation of the High Tribunal, one of the essential
functions of which was that of adjudicating the disagreements
arising amongst the nations of Central America, brought about an
irregular and uncertain situation as regards the stability and
force of the pacts signed in Washington, which, for a decade,
served as the cornerstone of Central American public law.
By official declarations made on distinct occasions, my
Government has maintained that the termination of the
jurisdictional powers of the Central American Court of Justice
rendered invalid the General Treaty of Peace and Amity signed in
Washington on December 20, 1907, since the Court was not only
the most efficient manifestation of the Central American
juridical life that the pact proclaimed and maintained, but
because it also constituted the activating principle, the
necessary complement, to that treaty, with which it formed a
homogeneous whole and from which it could not be separated.
But whatever may be the judgment of Your Excellency on this
matter, this Ministry believes that the opportunity has arrived
to promote the assembling of a Central American Conference,
composed of two delegates from each section of the isthmus, for
the purpose of examining and expounding the abnormal juridical
situation and of framing principles of conduct applicable to the
constant relations that our peoples and Governments daily
maintain. It will be charged with the revision of the pacts of
Washington, taking into account such amendments, amplifications,
and deletions as may be suggested by circumstances and
experience, and with the full reestablishment of arbitration as
the only patriotic means of settling our possible differences,
entrusting that high mission to a genuinely [Page 171] Central American tribunal. All
these are high and noble aspirations, deeply rooted in the
Central American national conscience.
In addition, the Conference will have full jurisdiction to settle
the following problems that so deeply affect the future of these
nations:
- 1.
- Unification of the Constitutional text and body of
substantive laws;
- 2.
- Unification of secondary and professional
education;
- 3.
- Uniformity of customs duties, both frontier and
maritime, and free interchange of Central American
products;
- 4.
- Unification of moneys, weights and measures,
etc.;
- 5.
- Adoption of a common national coat-of-arms and flag;
and
- 6.
- Extradition, with expeditious means of carrying it
into effect.
Settlement of these and other matters, proper to the Conference,
would result in establishing, in an effective manner, the
permanent basis for the future realization of the union of these
sister nations. If, once and for all, laws can be passed drawing
us together in economic and administrative respects, then the
political union would be but the necessary and indispensable
complement to that most laudable effort.
There is now a spirit of fraternity and good will amongst the
people of Central America, propitious for the development of
efforts leading to the attainment of the highest end of
patriotism, namely, the union of Central America.
The delegates should bring to the Conference appropriate and
ample instructions from their Governments, in order that, by
giving special attention to this subject, their efforts may lead
to the study, development, and exposition of a plan of union,
designed on principles of truth and justice with a view to
creating a common politico-administrative life answering to the
changeless aspiration of the nations and the ardent Central
American sentiment that manifests itself spontaneously among all
the groups and classes of our social organism.
My Government has followed with lively interest the Unionist
movement in the various Central American regions, and judges it
to be a supreme obligation of the directing powers of the five
sections, in the historic moment that we are now passing
through, to cooperate in an effective and practical way for the
realization of such noble desires.
Thus, in a simple form, but of incalculable and transcendent
importance, the Conference, by its preliminary labors in forging
juridical bonds of unification and reciprocity, would place the
principle of union on a solid and definite foundation; by
formulating the plan of the Central American Union it would
satisfy conscientiously and judiciously the highest and loftiest
aspiration of the national sentiment of the people of the
isthmus, producing a stable project in [Page 172] accordance with which the Governments may
complete, without effort, the work of union.
I submit, then, for the consideration of Your Excellency’s
illustrious Government, the expediency of the summoning of a
Central American Conference of plenipotentiaries clothed with
full powers to study, consider, and carry out the ample program
that I briefly set forth, the seat of which Conference would be
any one of our capital cities.
With respect to this, my Government would consider with pleasure
the designation of San Salvador, but, of course, manifests the
desire to agree, through its delegates, on the Central American
capital that the majority of Governments may determine.
As to the date of the meeting of the Central American Conference,
it might be set as the 15th of September next, with a view to
allowing sufficient time to do the preliminary work and to come
to an understanding on the objects of the present movement.
I beg Your Excellency to have the kindness to transmit the valued
opinion of your illustrious Government in relation to the points
comprised in this note, making at the same time any suggestions
which it may believe advantageous for the best success of the
ends in view.
I assure [etc.]
