ART. 162. Treaties or pacts referred to in the last part of Art. 2, shall be ratified by a two-thirds vote of each Chamber, such action being regarded as an amendment to the Constitution, notwithstanding the terms of this Title. ART. 163. An absolute [Constitutional] reform shall not be made until after a lapse of 10 years; and for this purpose the regulations of Art. 160 shall be observed. A declaration to this effect having been made, a Constituent [sic] Assembly shall be convoked. ART. 164. The ordinary Congress upon declaring that the Constitution should be entirely revised, shall close its sessions and become dissolved in so doing. TITLE XIV.-GENERAL PROVISIONS. ART. 165. The present Constitution supersedes that of March 30, 1905, and the Guarantee Law of September 15, 1910; moreover it declares the Constitution signed on April 4 of this year by the previous Constituent Assembly to be null and void. ART. 166. Until revised or repealed, other laws shall remain in force provided they are not contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. ART. 167. The present Constitution shall go into force on March 1 of this next year 1912. TITLE XXV.-TRANSITORY PROVISIONS. ART. 168. Pending the convening of the first Constitutional Congress, elected in the manner and at the time authorized by the present Constituent Assembly, the latter shall continue to discharge its duties and those which belong to the ordinary Congress in accordance with the Constitution. ART. 169. The renewal of Representative during the first biennal period shall be by lot, as shall also be that of Senators in the first and second biennal periods. ART. 170. The decrees of the present Constituent Assembly in regard to appointments of President and Vice President of the Republic and of Justices of the Supreme Court shall remain in full force and vigor for the time which they respectively comprise. ART. 171. The decrees of May 18, July 15, and October 14 last regarding creation, powers, and duties of the Mixed Commission shall likewise remain in full force notwithstanding the provisions of this Constitution. The present Constituent Assembly shall, without any restriction, enact such revisional and supplementary laws and provisions as may be conducive to the objects stated in said decrees. ART. 172. As soon as the Constitution is promulgated, all government officials shall take oath in legal form to strictly and faithfully observe all its provisions. Given in the Hall of Sessions of the National Constituent Assembly at Managua on November 10, 1911. Ignacio Suárez, President [of the Assembly], Representative for the [and 39 others.] Let it be published. EXECUTIVE MANSION, Managua, December 21, 1911. ADOLFO Díaz. SALV. BUITRAGO DÍAZ, Ministro de la Gobernación, Justicia, etc. PEDRO RAF. CUADRA, Ministro de Hacienda y Crédito Público. Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, etc. Ministro de la Guerra y Marina. Ministro de Fomento y Obras Públicas. POLITICAL AFFAIRS.' REVOLUTIONARY PLOTS. THE MENA INSURRECTION. BREACH OF THE DAWSON AGREEMENTS AND OF THE WASHINGTON CONVENTIONS. MEASURES TAKEN BY THE UNITED STATES FOR PROTECTING LIFE AND PROPERTY OF FOREIGNERS. ARREST AND DETENTION OF MENA. ELECTION BY DIRECT POPULAR VOTE OF ADOLFO DÍAZ AS CONSTITUTIONAL PRESIDENT FROM JANUARY 1, 1913. File No. 817.00/1746. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Secretary of State. [Telegrams-Paraphases.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Managua, January 1, 1912. The president of Costa Rica, Jiménez, informs the Nicaraguan Chargé d'Affaires in Costa Rica that a movement on Nicaragua from Costa Rica is imminent; that the President of Guatemala, Estrada Cabrera, is supporting Irias in this connection; that the Liberals of Nicaragua have telegraphed Irias to act immediately or they will drop him. The President of Nicaragua, however, does not fear anything of a serious nature unless Mena or Chamorro should further the movement. GUNTHER. File No. 817.00/1749. AMERICAN LEGATION, Managua, January 4, 1912. A telegram from President Araujo of Salvador to the President of Nicaragua says that President Estrada Cabrera of Guatemala is in constant communication with José Dolores Gámez 2 in Costa Rica through General Nicasio Vásquez who has unlimited entrée at the presidential Mansion. President Araujo has intercepted correspondence clearly establishing the complicity of Estrada Cabrera, and advises the President of Nicaragua to watch the frontier closely. GUNTHER. File No. 817.00/1749. The Secretary of State to the American Chargé d'Affaires. [Telegram-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT Of State, Washington, January 5, 1912. Your January 4. You will repeat it to the American Legations in Costa Rica, San Salvador and Guatemala, adding that the Department requests a full report after careful investigation. Request of Heimke transmission of copies of intercepted correspondence mentioned. 1 Continued from For. Rel. 1911, pp. 648-671. Former Minister in the Cabinet of ex-President Zelaya. ΚΧΟΣ. File No. 817.00/1764. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Secretary of State. No. 163.] [Extract.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Managua, January 6, 1912. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department's instruction No. 65 of November 25,1 enclosing for my information a copy of a despatch by which the Minister at Tegucigalpa com municated to the Department the substance of an interview regarding political affairs in this country which he had with General Emiliano Chamorro on September 17th last. Since General Chamorro's return to Nicaragua on October 31st, he has been twice to see me at the Legation where he freely discussed the political situation in this country and in the other Central American States. He reminded me that at the end of the revolution he had the arms in his power, and that he did hand them over to General Mena of his own free will, preferring not to accept the Ministry of War in order to remain at liberty to launch his candidacy for the Presidency, and that he had refrained from doing this upon the conclusion of the Dawson Agreements. Further, that he had declined to accept a portfolio in the Estrada administration for the same reasons. Here, however, it is to be remembered that General Chamorro came into control of the Assembly, a more powerful position, if independent, than any Ministry. He must have reckoned with this probability in view, estimating in full his popularity in the country. He went on to say that, confiding in the American program as outlined in the Dawson Agreements, which he had always scrupulously observed, he had refrained at all times from entering into any revolu tionary movement whatsoever against the present Government, in spite of the many opportunities offered him with a strong probability of success. That General Chamorro could within a few days' notice lead a very formidable revolution I do not doubt, knowing as I do his tremendous popularity with the people of Nicaragua. Furthermore, in order to meet the budget for the coming year the Minister of War has been induced to cut his standing army down to about 1600 men only, and all other military expenditures in proportion. The Government is not in a position to withstand, unaided, even a feeble uprising. In answer to my direct inquiry as to whether he intended at any time in the future to start a revolution he replied, Only in case the Dawson Agreements are not carried out with reference to free elections, in which case I most certainly will." We then discussed conditions in Guatemala, Salvador and Honduras, all of which he recently visited during his voluntary exile. *** * General Chamorro is quiet and dignified in his bearing, and extremely likable personally. His popularity is stupendous. Even the Liberals will hardly ever say a word against him, even though they may consider him their enemy. He is apparently very retiring and modest, and professes to be unambitious and willing to sacrifice personal leanings to the good of his country and party. Up to the 1 Not printed. (File No. 812.00/1384.) 2 For. Rel. 1911, pp. 652-653. present time he has been invariably truthful in his dealings with the Legation. Were he to be chosen under the Dawson Agreement No. 4, as the candidate for the presidency, and a free election should follow, I believe, all other things being equal, and if the other signers gave him their full support, that he would receive the presidency by an overwhelming majority. I have [etc.] * * * F. M. GUNTHER. File No. 817.00/1765. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Secretary of State. No. 164.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Managua, January 8, 1912. SIR: I have the honor to call the Department's attention to the attitude observed by the signers of the so-called Dawson Conventions, with regard to the pledges contained therein. The first to break the agreements was General Juan J. Estrada. Agreement No. 4, which affects Nicaraguan politics though not international relations, contains the clause: Also it is agreed that the Government to be established in Nicaragua must not permit, under any pretext, the Zelayista element in its administration. This clause was inserted in the original draft of the agreement by General Estrada himself, in his own handwriting. Nevertheless, as the Department has already been informed,' on the night of the 8th and morning of the 9th of May last, General Estrada, as President of the Republic, attempted a coup d'état, with a view to turning the Government over to the Liberal party teeming with the Zelayista element. Through his brother, General Aurelio Estrada, and other prominent Liberal and Zelayista leaders, he had called the Liberals of Managua and adjacent parts to the Campo de Marte, and there ordered the chiefs of the garrison to supply them with arms. Those chiefs of garrison, being Conservatives and furthermore loyal to the Minister of War, General Mena, who was then in prison under orders of Estrada, refused to obey the command of the President, and, instead, turned the guns of the garrison upon the residence of the Campo de Marte, where General Estrada was living, demanding that he resign and deposit the power in the Conservative Vice-President Adolfo Díaz, who was there at the time. General Estrada having no other recourse complied then and there at 2:00 a. m., on the 9th of May [1911]. The next to openly violate the agreements was General Mena. Agreement No. 1, clause 3, provides that the Constituent [Constitutional] Assembly will convoke the people for the election of a constitutional president corresponding to the period following the present one. As the Department is already aware the members of the National Constituent Assembly stampeded that body on October 7th and 'carried the election of General Mena. General Mena violated the agreements by not immediately declining to accept, as he had promised me he would do were they to elect him. Furthermore, it 1 For. Rel. 1911, p. 660. 2 For. Rel. 1911, p. 668. might be supposed that he could perhaps have prevented that election, notwithstanding the promise that the deputies held out for his election as the sine qua non for the approval of the loan contracts. He was warned by the Legation of the inadvisability of the step, and also forewarned of the possible consequences. President Díaz might also be considered as having violated the agreements as he neither opposed the election of General Mena-on the contrary he favored it nor has he taken the attitude, at any time, that the National Constituent Assembly should convoke the people for a popular election. It must be said, however, that President Díaz was hardly in a position to do so. As a matter of policy, all things being considered with a view to the success of the American program, he was practically under the necessity of accepting the course pursued. Fernando Solórzano, not being a signer of the first three agreements, and supposedly ignorant of their existence, acted in apparent good faith in accepting his election as Vice President. According to the terms of Agreement No. 4 the signers should designate at their opportunity and by a majority a candidate for Constitutional President of the Republic and another for Vice President, corresponding to the period following the presidency pro tempore of General Estrada, obliging themselves to take into consideration that the one chosen must represent the revolution and the Conservative party. The majority was composed of Luis Mena, Adolfo Díaz, and Fernando Solórzano, and the candidates designated were Mena and Solórzano. There remains only to be considered the attitude of General Emiliano Chamorro. He alone of the signers of the first three agreements has not actually violated to some extent their specific pledges. He did, however, depart from the spirit of the Agreement [No. 1] in not supporting General Estrada during his term. as President. The Department will remember that the first National Constituent Assembly, which was under Chamorro's complete control, drew up a Constitution which should have effectively emasculated the Executive power and would have created an oligarchy with the Chamorro family and followers as the predominant element. This Assembly was dissolved on April 5th and the Constitution adopted by it rendered null and void. General Chamorro, however, alone of the signers of the first three agreements can be said to have rigorously observed the specific pledges therein contained. The Constitution drawn up by the first Assembly tended to the abolition of monopolies, guaranteed the legitimate rights of foreigners, provided for the Mixed Claims Commission, the loan, and would have convoked the people for the election of a Constitutional President for the term beginning January 1, 1913. I have [etc.] F. M. GUNTHER. 1 For. Rel. 1911, p. 657. For, Rel. 1911, p. 669. 12 |