815.00/3102: Telegram
The President’s Personal Representative in Honduras (Welles) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 17—8:54 p.m.]
5. My April 14, 4 p.m. I entered Tegucigalpa with the American Minister yesterday. Immediately thereafter a conference was held between the Minister and myself and the Ministers of the Dictatorship. I proposed to them the bases of a settlement which had been previously agreed upon by the chiefs of the revolution and myself. These bases comprised:
- 1.
- The selection of a Provisional President by the leaders of both factions with the understanding that the Executive so selected must be chosen from a list of persons acceptable to the leaders of the revolution. The citizens proposed for this office by the revolutionary leaders are in the aggregate honest and efficient.
- 2.
- Freedom of selection of the members of his Cabinet by the Provisional President with the stipulation that the posts of Fomento [Page 307] and Public Instruction should be filled with persons not identified with the Revolutionary Party.
- 3.
- Each Cabinet Minister to have complete control of his department subject only to the instructions of the President.
- 4.
- The Provisional Government to undertake the necessary modification of the election law, the convocation of a constituent assembly for the reform of the Constitution and the holding of new elections for the Presidency and Congress, after which the Government would be at once transferred to the newly elected Executive.
- 5.
- The remaining bases were those which the American Minister had already succeeded in inducing two factions to accept.
The members of the Council of Ministers demonstrated with the exception of the Ministers of War and Finance the utmost unwillingness to enter into any agreement except one which provided for complete equality of treatment as between, the two contending factions. They likewise refused to accept the sole mediation of the United States, insisting that any agreement must be reached at Amapala with the additional mediation of delegates of the Central American Republics. In conclusion they refused to agree to the immediate reaching of an agreement but insisted that the negotiations must take place at Amapala.
After a very long discussion a compromise suggestion was framed providing for the immediate signing of a preliminary agreement containing approximately the bases presented by the leaders of the revolution, both parties subsequently to send delegates to a conference at Amapala at which representatives of the United States and the Central American Republics would be present, where a definite agreement based upon the preliminary pact could be effected.
This morning delegates of the Council of Ministers accompanied the American Minister and myself to the radio station where the chiefs of the revolution were waiting. I had thereupon a conference apart with the chiefs of the revolution to explain to them the changes which had been made in their proposals. They were at first entirely unwilling to consider the proposals of the Council of Ministers but finally consented to all save the proposal to postpone the selection of the Provisional President until the conference at Amapala could be held on the ground that the object sought by the dictatorship was the indefinite prolonging of negotiations, pending which it hoped a movement of reaction could be promoted against the revolution with assistance from adjacent countries, upon which negotiations would be broken off by the dictatorship and that revolution would lose all the advantages acquired during the past months. They therefore demanded agreement upon the Provisional President prior to the holding of any conference at Amapala as a sign of good faith on the part of the dictatorship.
[Page 308]When the Department takes into consideration that with the capture of Choluteca yesterday the revolutionary leaders control the entire Republic except the Capital, have now all the arms and ammunition necessary as well as all the funds needed to besiege the Capital indefinitely, whereas the dictatorship has a scant seven or eight hundred troops in the Capital and no apparent means of paying them, the attitude of the leaders of the revolution appear[s] conciliatory. I have impressed upon them the fact that satisfactory elections cannot be held here under a provisional government controlled only by one party. It was for this reason that they agreed to permit the Provisional President to give representation to all factions in his government.
It is the intention of the Minister and myself to communicate the decision of the revolutionary chiefs to the Council of Ministers tonight and urge acceptance to avoid inevitable capture of the Capital with consequent loss of life and destruction of property.
Department’s April 15, 3 p.m. The Department’s cable of April 10, 6 p.m. was only received by me yesterday and in such condition that it could not be deciphered. Repetition has been requested.