12. Letter From the Ambassador in El Salvador (Mann) to the Ambassador in Nicaragua (Whelan)1
Dear Tom: I understand that President Somoza still believes that President Lemus is unfriendly to him. Presumably this is based principally on the Salvadoran belief and action that they were prohibited by the Constitution from surrendering Nicaraguan exiles for trial in Managua and secondarily on an alleged partiality for Honduras in its recent dispute with Nicaragua. If there is another cause of complaint I am not aware of it.
As for the exiles, the Salvadorans do genuinely believe that both the doctrine of asylum and their law forbid them from surrendering the exiles. As for Honduras, they believe that they have leaned over backwards to maintain an attitude of strict impartiality; everything I have seen and heard leads me to believe that they have. They say that the Hondurans are annoyed that they did not receive support and conjecture that the various sudden and unannounced visits of Honduran officials may have been planned and timed to mislead people into supposing that a Salvadoran-Nicaraguan entente existed.
I will say that I believe Lemus, unlike Osorio who has no special liking for the Somozas, genuinely wants to be friendly with the Nicaraguan Government and, as far as I know, there is no reason why the two governments should not be friendly. I think the next months will show that President Lemus will be attacked by the same elements who are after the Somozas and that they have a common cause.
If you think it wise, perhaps you would like to reassure President Somoza of President Lemus’ good intentions. I will be glad to do anything within reason to help clear up any misunderstanding that may exist.
Sincerely yours,