710.11/2026
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Welles) to the Chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs (Duggan)
In accordance with our conversation of this morning, I am returning these papers to you herewith.
I suggest that an instruction to all of our legations in Central America be prepared, drawn up along the lines of our talk this morning, namely, instructing our respective ministers that in their official relations with the governments to which they are accredited, they should conduct themselves exactly as if they were dealing with one of the great republics of the south or with any non-American power; that is to say, that they should religiously abstain from offering advice as regards any domestic question and that if they are requested to give such advice, they should refuse to take any action except upon specific instruction from the Department of State. I think they should further be told that it is assumed that they will request instructions from the Department of State whenever questions have arisen or appear to be likely to arise relating to developments which may affect the relations between the government to which they are accredited and the other Central American republics. As an example of what I have in mind in this phase of the question is the recent rumor which has come to me that the President of Salvador is inclined to encourage the opposition in Honduras whereas the present government of Honduras has the backing of the government of Guatemala. Furthermore, I think Mr. Beaulac’s extremely useful memorandum should be transmitted with this proposed instruction and should be referred to in the instruction as constituting the considered policy of the Department.
[Page 131]Of course this instruction is entirely negative in character. I think that for some years to come, as indicated in my original memorandum to you, the personal confidence which our ministers may inspire in the officials of the republic where they are stationed should be a power for good if properly exercised, and, if properly exercised, should not constitute any detriment to the standing of this Government on the continent nor under these conditions could the exercise of such influence be construed as interference either by this Government or by its representative on his own initiative. This should not be rendered impossible, but I agree with you that in certain cases the utilization of such influence would be undesirable on account of the personality and character of our minister. Consequently, in the last analysis activities of this kind should only be undertaken when specific authorization is given by the Department in special cases. The only way to handle this, of course, is through personal conference and not through official instructions.
At the present time I would not feel inclined to relax in any way the prohibitions to be contained in this proposed instruction. The Government of Nicaragua is going to use every effort to have Mr. Long interject himself into their serious political controversy.9 Both for the sake of this Government, for the sake of Nicaragua, and finally, to avoid any possibility of misconception of the sincerity of our policy at the Inter-American conference,10 it is undesirable to permit Mr. Long to get embroiled in these matters. In none of the other republics at the present time is there any reason why our minister should be called upon to use his personal good offices. We will, therefore, make no exceptions to the general prohibitions until and unless we think the situation demands it and the man on the spot capable of keeping within the required limit of tact and discretion.
The proposed instruction is a very important one since to all intents and purposes it constitutes a new precedent. It would be well to word it in such a way as not to create by it the impression that this government is assuming a sterile policy of aloofness, but rather that it wishes to carry out in all sincerity a policy of constructive and effective friendship solely provided that neither this government nor its representative are drawn into any domestic concerns of any one of the Central American republics.