817.00/8440: Telegram
The Minister in Nicaragua (Long) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4:05 p.m.]
154. A few minutes after my telephone conversation with Mr. Duggan firing again became quite heavy near offices where Warren74 and I were working, so that I could not return to the meeting of the Diplomatic Corps. I have telephoned Dean Miranda who said that the Mexican Chargé had signed and Miranda made last appeal for me to join them in the name of humanity. I replied that, having telephoned Washington, I would await the Department’s answer.
Sentiment of the Diplomatic Corps is that if fighting at Leon could be stopped temporarily mass meeting [it might] cease here, thus giving an interval of rest from the strain of fighting that would emphasize the reasonableness of entering into some amicable adjustment.
Somoza forces seem to have possession of the electric light plant, the brewery, and strategic buildings in the city and to have placed a picket in the eastern part of the city between the Legation and Chico Pelon. This picket probably surrounds the city. It is said that General [Page 829] Moncada, in uniform, is in charge at Campo Marte and Colonel Reyes at the camp beyond the airport. There is a report of two killed and two wounded on La Loma and several wounded at Campo Marte.
- Fletcher Warren, Second Secretary of Legation.↩