68. Memorandum From the Director of the Office of Middle American Affairs (Newbegin) to the Representative to the Council of the Organization of American States (Dreier)1

SUBJECT

  • Present Status of Nicaraguan-Honduran Boundary Dispute

The dispute over the boundary between Nicaragua and Honduras arose in the eighteen-fifties, and the first attempt at settlement by appointment of a commission started in 1858. Honduras took exception to a preliminary boundary convention which resulted from the commission’s work in 1869. Later in 1894 and 1895 Honduras and Nicaragua ratified the Gámez–Bonilla Treaty which provided for another mixed commission to mark the boundary. Members of the commission could not agree on that portion of the boundary northeastward from Portillo de Teotecacinte to the Caribbean. Under [Page 157] terms of the Gámez–Bonilla Treaty the disagreement was submitted in 1904 to the King of Spain.

On December 23, 1906, King Alfonso XIII handed down his laudo which generally favored the Honduran claims. This was accepted by Honduras, and also accepted by President Zelaya of Nicaragua who stated in a telegram to the President of Honduras that “the burdensome question of the boundary was settled in a manner [as] satisfactory as the arbitration was friendly …”2 In 1907 President Zelaya stated again that Nicaragua accepted the decision “with pleasure” but that he had given instructions for his minister to obtain clarification on some obscure and contradictory points.

When the Honduran government asked in 1911 that the two governments proceed to mark the border, the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister declared the arbitration null and void. In the meantime Nicaragua was accused of intervention in Honduran affairs. Since that time there have been a variety of attempts at settlement, and relations between the two countries have always been strained in varying degrees. There have been a number of minor border incidents.

The United States extended its good offices in 1913 and again between 1918 and 1920. In 1925 Honduras offered to accept the arbitration of the Chief Justice of the United States.3 President Moncada of Nicaragua in 1929 publicly stated his acceptance of the King of Spain’s laudo, but there was no follow-up toward settlement. Direct negotiations between Honduras and Nicaragua were resumed in 1931 and a Commission of Conciliation with American representation worked intermittently on the dispute for several years without results, until in 1941 the Honduran Government notified the mediating countries that it considered the Commission terminated.

In 1944 the incumbent Honduran Foreign Minister told representatives of the Department that Honduras had withdrawn from the mediation because it gained the impression that Ambassador Corrigan’s activities as a member of the Commission tended to undermine the King of Spain’s Award. No action was taken during the war years.

More recently the Department’s position has been not to take any step which might be susceptible of interpretation of United States involvement in this long-standing question. Our position has been that both parties should make bilateral effort to settle their controversy, and that failing that they should utilize pacific settlement procedures, preferably the International Court of Justice. Both [Page 158] countries appear to be agreeable in principle to this, but there is a dispute on the terms under which it can be submitted. Honduras considers submission to be, in general, a move to obtain enforcement of the King of Spain’s laudo, while Nicaragua will not go to court under these terms, since it considers the laudo null and void.

The only progress made to date has been the agreement of the two countries on the principle of setting up a mixed boundary commission to replace the markers along the border between the Gulf of Fonseca and Teotecacinte. This section of the border is not under dispute although there have been minor incidents, and during May, 1955, Honduras rushed troops to this section. This was the occasion for considerable excitement in Honduras. Chief of State Lozano’s opposition and Nicaragua have accused him of using this issue to detract attention from the domestic scene. There have been other minor incidents.

During the past two months, the Honduran Government intensified its activity with regard to the border dispute. Foreign Minister Mendoza has informed us that if the Nicaraguans will not take the matter to the International Court of Justice, Honduras will bring the matter to the COAS. A third alternative, which the Hondurans do not wish to use, would be that of armed force, according to Mendoza.

President Somoza is apparently unperturbed about the situation, and, according to our Embassy, has never reinforced his usual border guard. The various incidents have received only passing notice in the Nicaraguan press. Our Embassy in Tegucigalpa feels that the present attitude on the part of the Lozano government is at least partially attributable to the domestic situation in Honduras and the fact that elections are supposed to be held within a few months. The Lozano government must make some sort of showing on the issue in order to front opposition claims.

The Government of Honduras has appointed Dr. Celeo Davila, a prominent Liberal lawyer, to pursue the Honduran claim, and it has also retained the services of Dr. Manley P. Hudson. Nicaragua, while rejecting the Honduran terms for submission to the International Court, has offered to settle the matter peacefully. One recent bizarre suggestion made by President Somoza was that a union of the border provinces of Honduras and Nicaragua would eliminate the issue, or a union between the two countries. Honduras is currently engaged in lining up support from other American Republics in the event that the dispute is taken to the COAS.

Honduran Foreign Minister Esteban Mendoza has recently been in the United States on an incognito visit for the purpose of discussing the Honduran case with Dr. Hudson. On December 19 he [Page 159] also discussed the Honduran position at length with Assistant Secretary Holland at the latter’s home.4

The Hondurans indicated that they might consent to arbitration if the terms are phrased so that the Laudo of 1906 is not the issue. He said it might be agreeable to Honduras if one or both countries made charges that their territories were illegally occupied and that this issue be put up to the International Court of Justice without specific reference to the laudo.

Mr. Holland said that he would be glad to mention the matter informally to the Nicaraguans without assuming any responsibility. This was done on December 21, when Mr. Newbegin talked with Ambassador Sevilla Sacasa, who promised to consider the possibility and to take it up confidentially with the Nicaraguan Foreign Office during a holiday visit in Managua.

In June 1955, Miss Whiteman, Assistant Legal Adviser, prepared a 20-page summary concerning the history of the border dispute, if more detailed information is desired.5

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 615.1731/12–2155. Confidential.
  2. Ellipsis in the source text.
  3. William Howard Taft.
  4. According to a memorandum of conversation of December 19, Mendoza stated to Holland that three courses were open to Honduras in this matter: “(1) She could settle the matter by recourse to arms; (2) refer the matter to the International Court of Justice which she was ready and willing to do, but there was some question as to the feasibility of this since the Nicaraguan Government had not accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court; (3) refer the matter to the OAS under the appropriate provision of the Rio Treaty.” (Department of State, Holland Files: Lot 57 D 295, Honduras) The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty) was signed at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 2, 1947, by representatives of the United States and 18 countries of Latin America. It was ratified by the President of the United States on December 12, 1947, and entered into force on December 3, 1948. For text, see 62 Stat. 1681.
  5. Not found in Department of State files.