810.20 Defense/1836

The American Minister in Honduras ( Erwin ) to the Honduran Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Aguirre )2

Note 504

Excellency: Resolution XV adopted at the consultative meeting at Havana3 provided that in the event of aggression, “all the signatory nations, or two or more of them, according to circumstances, shall proceed to negotiate the necessary complementary agreements so as to organize cooperative defense measures and the assistance that they shall lend each other.” The contingency foreseen in that Resolution has now taken place and our two countries are now engaged in a common effort to defeat the aggressor nations.

I have the honor therefore to inform Your Excellency of my Government’s desire to initiate at once certain types of military cooperation namely:

A.
Permission to fly over and land on Honduran territory without limitation as to number or type of plane or personnel and arms carried. There would not be the usual notification through diplomatic or military channels, but only such as is required for technical reasons, probably direct to the airport involved, except in the emergency cases or should military necessity require it.
B.
Permission to use Honduran airports together with their facilities, such as servicing, installations, repair shops, radio, etc.
C.
Permission to photograph all territory of Honduras as may be necessary from a tactical and strategic point of view or as may be desirable for the compilation of air and navy charts. This Government is confident that there will be full and continuing cooperation [Page 369] between the armed forces of the two countries for the attainment of the common objective.

In the event that Your Excellency’s Government is prepared to grant the above privileges and wishes to formalize the agreement, I have been authorized to exchange the necessary written communications with Your Excellency.

Please accept [etc.]

John D. Erwin
  1. Copies of this and the following two notes transmitted to the Department by the Minister in Honduras in his despatch No. 1731, December 26; received December 29.
  2. For correspondence concerning the Second Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the American Republics, held at Habana, July 21–30, 1940, see Foreign Relations, 1940, vol. v, pp. 180 ff.; for text of Resolution XV, see Department of State Bulletin, August 24, 1940, p. 136.