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[p840] Central American Court of Justice,
July 13, 1908—1.30 p. m.
Whereas, His Excellency the President of the Republic of Nicaragua, in a
telegram deposited at Campo de Marte on July 9 instant, at 11 p. m., and
received in the clerk's office at 7 a. m. on the following day, states that
his. Government will file due complaint before this court on account of the
revolution begun in Honduras, and that consequently His Excellency the
Minister of Foreign Relations will answer the circular communication of this
court under date of the 8th instant.
Whereas, His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Relations of the Republic of
Nicaragua, in a telegram deposited at the Campo de Marte on July 10, at
12.30 a. m., and received in the clerk's office on the same day at 11.30 a.
m., states that, by special instructions from His Excellency the President
of that Republic, he has the honor to refer to the aforementioned circular,
and in connection therewith he presents to the court a recital of the events
which have occurred in the Republic of Honduras and declares that the
Republic of Nicaragua is interested, in the present contest for the reason
that it participated in the Washington treaties, because it is concerned in
the maintenance of general peace in Central America, because its territory
borders on that of Honduras, and because of the possible participation in
the conflict of Nicaraguan emigrants, who might pursue ulterior ends against
its own tranquillity. The Minister of Foreign Relations enumerates,
moreover, the grounds on which his Government bases its action in pointing
out the Republics of El Salvador and Guatemala as the instigators in the
said revolutionary movement, and he prays the court to adopt such measures
as it may deem effective.
Whereas, since it did not appear clearly in the telegram of His Excellency
the Minister of Foreign Relations whether it was the intention of the
Nicaraguan Government to file this as its formal complaint or to reserve the
complaint for a subsequent document which has been officially announced; and
since it was not precisely specified whether the action should be understood
as being directed solely against the Guatemalan Government, the court
ordered, as shown in the appropriate document, that the clerk should ask His
Excellency the Minister of Foreign Relations by telegraph for the necessary
explanatory data, declaring, however, that the message mentioned was
sufficiently complete to enable the court to adopt, on the strength of it,
the precautionary measures referred to by article 8 of the convention for
the establishment of a Central American court of justice, signed at
Washington December 20, 1907.
Whereas, by virtue of the foregoing, and in the interest of the peace of
Central America, it is appropriate, as one of the measures conducive to this
end, to determine the statu quo in which the contending parties are to
remain pending the final determination of their rights by judgment of the
court: Therefore, in accordance with what has been said, with the
above-cited provisions of the convention, and with articles 1, 2, 3, 16, and
17 of the general treaty of peace and amity of December 20, 1907, and with
article 2 of its additional convention, It is resolved: To provide, in
fixing the statu quo, that the high interested parties shall, pending the
final decision of the matter, observe the following rules, which [p841] the
court may modify or supplement, according to necessities and circumstances:
(a) The Republic of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua shall refrain from
any act which, as regards the pending conflict in Honduras, involves
violation of the neutrality agreed upon in article 2 of the aforementioned
additional convention;
(b) they shall prevent any assistance or encouragement being given in any
form from their territories or with their resources to the aforementioned
revolutionary movement, for which purpose they shall exercise adequate
vigilance on the frontiers by means of detachments of troops stationed at
the most suitable places;
(c) they shall confine to one place all the voluntary exiles (emigrados) to
whom it is possible to ascribe intentions of participating in the pending
struggle or who are known to be adversaries of the Honduran Government;
(d) they shall proceed, as provided in article 17 of the general treaty of
peace and amity, against all persons who assist or encourage the
aforementioned revolution within their territories;
(e) they shall reduce the strength of their army to the proportions required
for ordinary service and the aforementioned guarding of the frontiers;
(f) they shall discharge any officers of high or low grade in their service
if they are emigrants from Central American countries, compelling them to
reside in their respective capitals under official surveillance;
(g) they shall disarm and intern any revolutionary force coming into their
territories; and
(h) they shall refrain from any act in their mutual relations which might
imply hostility.
Let this resolution be communicated to the Governments of Central America.
José Astúa Aguilar.
Salv. Gallegos.
Angel M. Bocanegra.
Alberto Ucles.
José Madriz.
Ernesto Martin, Clerk of Court.
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